Where Paths Meet
by The Fandom Equestrian
Summary: Shortly after successfully bringing back the dead, the thankfully living Avengers just want a vacation. Too bad a portal opens up outside the compound and now they get to deal with seven mysterious children.
1. Arrival

**A crossover, yay! My main issue with crossovers is that they usually stay on the surface of the characters and don't really delve too deep into them. I hope I do at least a little bit better here, but feel free to let me know in the form of reviews. Any and all thoughts about my story are welcome and appreciated, and encourages me to keep writing! **

Tony sat on the couch, tablet on in front of him. He tapped the screen as it dimmed; he'd gotten lost in thought again. Images of his friends dying continued to plague his waking moments. Every time he closed his eyes another moon was hurtling towards him.

They'd done it - him and the remaining Avengers had given their all in a last hurrah and undid the actions of the evil purple titan and his magic rock collection. The universe could finally begin to heal. He was supposed to be retired.

He was no longer Iron Man. Pepper had permitted him to keep one suit - Mark 47, advanced but classic -, though it was more of a trophy than a suit now. Of course, he could never retire completely. He was co-director of the New Avengers Initiative with Steve Rogers and mentor of his favorite Spiderling. His founding avenging buddies with the exception of Thor, who was rebuilding Asgard somewhere in the Netherlands, lived in the compound with him. Bruce worked as the resident scientist, Tony himself the engineer. Steve, Clint, and Nat trained the active members.

The world was calm as it healed itself from the devastating events, but they all knew that one day there would be a new threat.

He shut the tablet off finally, tossing it beside him on the couch. He was far too out of it to be reading up on molecular disequilibrium. Sighing loudly, he looked out the window. The weather had taken a turn for the worst, sky dark and rain falling heavily. Thunder cracked in the distance.

"Tony," Steve said, approaching.

"Rogers," he said, staring out the window still. He didn't have to look to know that Steve was rolling his eyes at the name choice.

"How are you managing?" Steve asked, turning to look out the window as well.

"I'm… managing." He groaned, putting his head in his hands.

Steve nodded. The fifty percent that didn't disappear were struggling, to say the least. It was hard watching everyone you love die. Even though they brought them back in the end, the image of his teammates turning to dust before him was forever ingrained in his mind. "Weeks later, and I still get the nightmares."

Tony shook his head. "They won't go away any time soon."

Steve stuffed his hands in his pockets. Tony would know - Steve had watched him silently battle with his PTSD since the Chitauri invasion. While he'd had his own from the war, it was really only the occasional bad dream here or there, a flashback when a noise was too loud, Tony's was much worse. He supposed that it would be - he didn't have any super serum or powers. He was just a man. A genius, but a man.

Something flashed blue outside the window. He'd thought that he imagined it, but it flashed again. "Hey, Tony?"

He gestured outside, and Tony looked. Sure enough, it flashed again. "What the hell…"

It flashed once more, but this time it didn't disappear. It swirled, growing bigger. At the same time, thunder crashed dangerously close to the compound. They both jumped, running for the elevator.

"Friday," Tony called to his AI. "Alert the others. Tell them to stay inside unless I say otherwise. Where's Pepper?" He pressed the button for the bottom floor.

The feminine voice came through the speakers, "Yes, sir. Ms. Potts is preparing dinner in the kitchen."

Tony breathed an audible sigh of relief that his wife was safely inside. "I'm getting too old for this."

The two men ran through the doors of the compound, the blue energy even bigger than before. Wind whipped furiously at them, almost causing Tony to stumble back. The blue was probably fifteen or twenty feet off the ground, and as it expanded more he could see figures - people? - inside. As it did so more thunder crashed, nearly on top of them and the wind increased more than he thought possible.

Steve stepped slightly ahead of him, always the captain.

The blue expanded once more, and then suddenly bodies fell from it. The blue disappeared before they even hit the ground.

"Ouch," one of the people groaned.

They started moving, one of them asking, "Where are we?"

Tony and Steve snapped into action, walking towards them. They were so focused on the newcomers that they didn't even notice that the weather had cleared up as soon as the portal closed. Which, clearly, it was a portal.

As they drew closer, Tony stopped short. They were… kids? Why were kids falling from the sky on his lawn?

Steve's brow furrowed as he took in their appearances. "Hello?" he asked. None of them answered, and he wondered if they even knew he was there.

The group was all talking at once now, questions ringing out. "Why are you small? Why am I small?"

"Ben!" One of them, a girl, cried. She threw her arms around him in a suffocating hug.

"Yay, Ben's here." One of them said above all the voices, his own dripping with apathy. "But seriously, where the _fuck _are we?"

Steve cleared his throat, trying again. "Hello?"

The blonde boy laid a girl on the ground. _Oh god,_ Steve thought. _Is she dead?_

"I don't _know, _Klaus. Now shut up so I can figure it out."

Tony stepped forward. "As much as I love unexpected visitors, things emerging from portals hasn't really gone so well for us in the past, so…"

All the kids' heads snapped towards them, suddenly made aware of their presence. Steve counted seven of them, including the unconscious girl.

* * *

Blue swirled around them, and Klaus mentally willed Five to hurry up with his thing before a moon chunk hit just a little bit too close to home. He felt a strange sensation as the energy moved around him. Was this what it felt like to move through time? He would gladly take this ability over his own.

And then they were falling from the sky, which had been entirely unexpected because they had been perfectly on the ground just a moment before. He hit the ground with a smack, groaning. Thankfully, Diego had cushioned some of his fall.

His brother emitted an "Ouch." He rolled off of him, noting that they were on grass.

He looked up at the blue sky, grinning when he noticed the lack of an exploding moon. But they definitely weren't inside, so they weren't in the theater anymore. "Where are we?" he asked. The question was mostly directed at his dear brother Five, as none of the other emotionally stunted adult-children would likely know.

Diego glared at Klaus as he sat up. What? It's not like he _chose _to fall on him. It was just a happy coincidence.

But Diego's face changed suddenly. "Why are you small?" He looked down at his body. "Why am _I _small?"

His questions were cut off by Allison shouting, "Ben!"

Ben was suddenly tackled into a hug, and the look on his face was priceless. The expression was probably mainly due to not having any physical contact for the last decade and a half (well, except for the Patrick Swayze-ing he gave Klaus), but he couldn't help but laugh at his brother nonetheless.

Not that he wasn't happy to see Ben among the living once more, but his return was too much of a big deal for Klaus. In fact, it was arguable that he'd seen more of his brother after his death than when he'd been alive. "Yay, Ben's here!" He echoed his siblings' excitement. A quick glance at Vanya, still out cold in Luther's less hairy arms, reminded him that there were still a lot of unknowns. "But seriously, where the _fuck _are we?"

Five sent him an annoyed look, but he was already getting re-accustomed to receiving a lot of them from him. "I don't _know, _Klaus. Now shut up so I can figure it out."

Suddenly there was another voice from a few feet away from them, much deeper than theirs in their current prepubescent state. "As much as I love unexpected visitors, things emerging from portals hasn't really gone so well for us in the past, so…"

Six heads quickly turned towards the intruder - or were they the intruders?

Five stood, brushing off his shorts with his hands and asking, "Who are you?"

One man had facial hair very similar to Klaus' when he was older. Younger. Whatever. He was the one who'd called out to them, and now he stood with his arms crossed, stance wide and defensive. The other man was taller, blonde, and muscled. Obviously he wasn't Luther's level of beef but he was definitely brawny.

The first man raised a brow at Five's bluntness. He was probably unused to being spoken to in such a manner, judging by his nice clothes, fancy watch, and enormous building. And by a thirteen year old, no less. "I should be asking you that," he pulled his sunglasses down to get a better look at them, "considering you guys just dropped down on my property."

"We're the Umbrella Academy," Five stated back simply. "Now who are you?"

Klaus could see Luther tense beside him, probably miffed that Five was the one speaking for them. Daddy's Perfect Pet usually did the talking. Diego noticed too, as he sent him a sharp elbow in the ribs. Klaus smirked.

It felt weird to stand together under that moniker again after so many years. All of them, too. Five returned, Ben alive, and even Vanya was included. Although, she wasn't exactly conscious right now.

Facial hair guy sighed. "We're the Avengers."

The kids looked at each other, the name not ringing any bells. "And what's that?" Diego asked.

Facial hair guy frowned. "Earth's mightiest heroes? Saved the world on multiple occasions, recently saved half the universe?"

"Nope, sorry." Klaus shrugged. He did take some pleasure in the frustrated look he was getting from the man. The blonde guy however just looked thoughtful.

"You guys have really never heard of us?"

"Where we come from, we're the only superheroes," Luther boasted proudly.

Five sent him a glare, and this time Allison elbowed him.

"How have you never heard of-"

Facial hair guy was cut off by Mr. Tall, Blonde, and Buff. "That's enough, Tony." He switched from side-glaring at his companion to concernedly gazing at the kids. He gestured to Vanya. "Is she okay?"

Allison was currently sitting next to her, holding her hand. They looked to her to confirm. "She's alright," she said with a slight tired smile. "Still breathing."

Blondie nodded. "We should probably get her to Bruce, just to be safe."

Five practically growled at him. "You're not taking her _anywhere."_

Facial hair guy held his hands up in a placating gesture. "Woah, woah. Calm down, kid. We have a doctor who can look over her."

Ben stood, tapping Five on the shoulder. "She should probably get checked out."

Allison nodded in agreement.

Five ground his teeth. "Fine, but we're coming, too."

"Deal," he said. "Steve, will you carry h-" Luther picked her up before he could finish his sentence.

Facial hair guy just rolled his eyes, turning around and walking back towards the building. "Nevermind," he muttered.

* * *

Peter Parker was waiting for them when they got inside. "Mr. Stark, is everything-" he trailed off as he saw a group of kids a few years younger than him enter behind him. "Um, who are they? Sir?"

Tony shook his head. "They said that they're the Umbrella Academy, whatever that means. Friday, alert Bruce that we're coming up with a patient."

"Right away, sir."

Peter curiously watched the kids jump at the voice of Tony's AI. He chuckled to himself - he'd done that same thing when he first visited the tower, and when he'd first heard Karen in his suit. Now he was used to voices following him around.

One of the boys was looking around, and asked the others, "You all heard that too, right?" At their nods, he visibly relaxed.

"Hi, I'm Peter Parker," he held his hand out to one of the boys.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Kid, you're horrible at this secret identity thing."

"But they don't know that I'm Spider-Man!"

This was met with a long pause as he realized what he'd said. Tony facepalmed. "Well, you guys just met my mentee, Peter Parker. How he's kept his identity a secret this long is unknown. So… just don't tell anyone. Pretty please with a cherry on top?" he finished with a cheesy grin.

They shrugged.

Peter noticed awkwardly that his hand was still outstretched to one of the boys. He was staring at the gesture with one brow raised.

A girl with curly hair rolled her eyes dramatically. "Oh my god, Five. Could you quit being such an old grump for five minutes?" She pushed him aside, shaking his hand herself. "Allison."

The blonde kid sputtered, "Should we be telling them our names?"

"This kid just told us his full name and secret identity, apparently. I think we can give him our names." Another one of the boys laughed. "You're just pissed Allison said hello instead of being duct-taped to you. I'm Klaus, by the way."

Peter offered him a smile.

"Great, but we should probably get this girl some medical attention pronto, yeah?" Tony reminded, ushering them to the elevator.

Peter watched them and Steve all file in after him. He watched the doors close, laughing to himself. His life really couldn't get any weirder, could it?

* * *

Five was silent for the elevator ride, taking note of everything. The number of floors in the building (though he wasn't naive enough to believe that there weren't secret floors without buttons), where they were heading, how many people they'd met so far and what threat level they appeared to pose… Sure, they seemed nice, but years of being an assassin for the Temp Commission had taught him to always be on guard.

The entered what appeared to be a lab. As they did, a voice said not unkindly, "You guys know that I'm not that kind of doctor, right?" As he took in the sight of the seven children, his look changed to one of bewilderment. "Tony, I know you adopt children to deal with your emotions but this is-"

"No, no!" Tony was quick to shut that idea down. "I didn't- these aren't mine! They just dropped from a portal out front."

Bruce's brow furrowed, but he didn't question further, his eyes finding Vanya. "Put her on the table," he said.

Luther followed instructions.

They all remained close to her as the doctor, Bruce Banner as they learned his name was, performed a series of tests. When he finished, he said, "Everything appears normal. Her vitals are fine, no injuries. She should be waking up eventually. Of course, it would help to know how she ended up this way?" he looked expectantly at the kids.

Five remained tight-lipped, hoping his siblings would do the same. He'd figured out that they were likely in a parallel universe. The Umbrella Academy, the only superheroes in the world. The Avengers, Earth's mightiest heroes or whatever they called themselves. Neither group had ever heard of each other, but the Avengers talked like they were highly public. Which meant that in their respective timelines, the other group didn't exist.

And these guys were the heroes in their timeline. Meaning that their job was to eradicate threats to their world. Threats like a bomb that could trigger the apocalypse - like their sister.

They didn't know Vanya. They would likely come to the conclusion that even if they didn't need to kill her, they would lock her away for the safety of their world. And he wouldn't blame them for coming to that conclusion, but 1) as Luther had idiotically decided to prove, locking Vanya up wasn't a good idea, and 2), Five would be damned if he let his sister be treated that way again. He was too young the first time, and off being sidetracked by the Handler the second, but this time he was here to help her.

These thoughts ran through his head quickly, and he answered, "She fainted. From the travel."

It was unclear whether Bruce believed him, or Tony and Steve, but Bruce didn't push further. "Well, it's just up to her when she wakes up. Until then we could move her to one of the guest bedrooms - much comfier."

"Excellent idea," Tony clapped his hands together. "Thank you, Brucie."

Bruce laughed. "You're always welcome. But seriously - you do know that I'm not that kind of doctor, right?"

"Can't hear you!" Tony was already heading back to the elevator. The kids followed behind him.

* * *

"Well, kiddies. There's a guest room right in there. I'll have Happy put some of Peter's spare clothes in there for you in case you want to change - your clothes are a tad baggy, if you haven't noticed. I can arrange more guest rooms for tonight, or if you prefer you can stay together. Dinner is in thirty minutes; Friday will be directing you to the dining room." Tony waved at a room down the hall when the doors opened on a floor. "Until then, enjoy your stay at Casa de Stark.

The kids nodded, some offering a "Thanks," as they moved towards their room. He watched them until they disappeared behind the door.

He breathed out heavily, exhausted. Life just refused to leave him alone, didn't it?

He hit a button and went to the kitchen. As he walked in, he smelled stew cooking as Natasha and Pepper chatted at the counter.

"Hey, honey," he hugged Pepper from behind, kissing her hair.

She spun around, beaming up at him. Her hand found his and placed it on her stomach, showing him the forming bump. He grinned back down at her, placing a kiss on her forehead.

"How's our mini Stark doing?" he caressed the bump.

"He's starving," Pepper moaned. "Eat, throw up. Eat, throw up. It's a vicious cycle."

Tony laughed, happy. He couldn't believe that he had a baby on the way. It excited and terrified him at the same time.

"Is everything okay?" she asked. "What was all that about earlier?"

Oh, right. That. He'd nearly forgotten. "So, interesting story…"

Natasha's ears perked up; she'd tuned out for the lovey-dovey part. "Yes, Tony. Do tell why Friday issued a level one lockdown?"

Tony scratched the back of his head. "Some kids fell out of a portal and landed on our front lawn."

Pepper stepped back, smacking him. "And you didn't think to lead with that?!"

Natasha smirked behind her drink.

"Sorry! But anyways, they're in the guest bedroom now. There's seven of them, although one was unconscious."

Nat raised her brow. "Any more than that? Why they're here? Why there was a portal? Why the one's unconscious?"

Clint walked over, pulling out a chair. "Who's unconscious?"

Pepper shook her head in exasperation. "Tony adopted more children."

"I did _not!_" Tony objected. "We just kind of ended up with these!" He grabbed the open bottle of whiskey and poured two, sliding one over to Clint. "Even better: they say they're superheroes."

Clint choked. "You're kidding, right?"

"That's what one of them said," Tony confirmed.

Natasha put her glass down with a thunk. "So, delusional, right?"

"No clue." Tony shrugged. "I wouldn't normally be inclined to believe them, but they arrived via portal."

"So why haven't we heard of these superpowered kids before?" Clint asked. "It kinda seems like something we would be in the loop about."

"I think they might be from a different timeline."

Silence met his answer.

"I'm sorry, what?" Pepper crossed her arms.

"Well, one of them said they were called the Umbrella Academy, like I should know what that means. And the one kid said that they were the only superheroes where they're from. I mentioned the Avengers and they acted like they'd never even heard of us before. In simpler terms for the less intellectually inclined: they're not from 'round here."

Clint whistled. "I would like a vacation. Can I take a vacation? I'm too old for this."

"You and me both, Clint." Tony took another swig. "As for why the girl's unconscious, they said that she fainted from the trip here. I don't know if he's telling the truth on that one."

"So you know nothing about them, they're possibly enhanced, and they're running around the tower unsupervised?" Natasha seemed unimpressed.

Tony grimaced. He'd been hoping to give the kids the benefit of the doubt, because suspicion was so much work… But of course Natasha would want to be vigilant about their stay. "Friday, what are the kids doing?"

Friday replied, "They have not left their room, sir."

"Perfect," he rubbed his hands together.

Natasha nodded. "Don't get too cozy with them around, Tony. We know nothing about them. Should we be telling Nick about this?"

Tony and Clint both shook their heads fervently. "Absolutely not," Clint decided. "He'd suck all the fun out of this. Besides, he's a little busy catching up with his favorite captain. Don't tell Steve."

"There's seven of them?" Pepper asked Tony to clarify.

"Yep."

She threw the recipe book at him. "You double it," she said, taking off her apron and throwing that at him, too.

Natasha laughed at his misfortune, getting up with her drink and heading to the living room.

He looked at Clint, who only gave him a fake sympathetic look before getting up to follow Nat. He grumbled to himself, opening cabinets in hopes of finding another pot.

* * *

"Have you figured out where we are, yet?" Luther asked. They were all sitting in the spacious guest room, Vanya in the bed and the other sprawled out in various places.

Five stood, beginning to pace. "Well, we're definitely not in our own world. I'd say a parallel universe, likely."

"Woah, woah," Diego held his hands up. "Slow down. We're in a different universe?"

Five shook his head, exasperated with how slow his siblings always were on the upkeep. "The multiverse theory, duh. We're in a timeline running parallel to ours. Now I have to look at my equation again to see exactly how we ended up here, and how we get back, but I don't believe that anything was _this _far off. What probably happened was the journey was too much for all of us at once to land precisely where I wanted, so we just kinda got thunked down right here."

They all nodded, some making sense of the time-space jarble flowing from their brother's mouth and some not, but everyone basically got the gist.

"So what do we do?" Diego asked.

"We lay low," Luther started. "We don't let anyone-"

"Calm down, Numero Uno. Daddy dearest is no longer here to put you in charge, so what gives you the right to call the shots?" Klaus said from where he was sitting upside down in the chair.

"He's right, Luther. Number One doesn't mean shit anymore," Diego was smirking.

Luther scowled, looking to Allison.

She scoffed. "Don't look at me like that. I still haven't forgiven you for what you did to Vanya. My vote is that we let Five lead. He is oldest, after all."

"I'm second oldest!" Klaus interjected. "Does that make me new number two?"

Five sighed. "You guys are getting way too confusing with this. I'll be the new leader, but other than that nothing changes. Got it?"

"Yessir," Klaus saluted.

"I think we should have a vote," Luther suggested, clearly not happy with the turn of events.

"Grow up, Luther. Does it really matter who's number one anymore?" Diego rolled his eyes.

"Do you really think it would be in your favor, anyways?" Klaus asked him.

"You did lock our sister up last time you were in charge," Ben pointed out, the first he'd spoken since they arrived. He was probably still reeling from the sensations of being alive again.

"Indirectly causing the apocalypse," Allison chimed in.

"Not to mention being a really shitty brother," Five nodded.

Luther grumbled, "Fine."

"So, what do we do?" Allison inquired.

Five thought to himself. "I think that it's safe for us to stay here. And being that these people are all alleged superheroes as well, I think it's safe to be honest about our abilities, though a bit vague. We still want the upper hand if need be. However," he stressed, "It's best to leave out any and all things pertaining to…" He lowered his voice, looking around. "_The apocalypse."_

They all nodded seriously.

"Vanya is ordinary. Obviously when we're in private we'll help her with her abilities but around anyone else she's just ordinary Vanya. Got it?"

They nodded again, understanding. If the heroes knew that an apocalyptic-level bomb was currently residing with them, they might not be so hospitable.

A knock came from the door. Five, newly elected leader but also grandpa, got up to open it.

A larger man stood in the doorway, holding bags. The man looked surprised. "Okay, so he wasn't kidding. Here's some clothes," he handed the bags to Five. "My name is Happy; I'm the head of security around here. If you need anything you can just ask Friday."

Five nodded. "Erm, thanks."

Happy nodded back awkwardly before shutting the door and leaving. Five threw the bags on the floor, where everyone started digging through them.

Klaus held up shirt after shirt, wincing at the cheesy science puns on them. "Jesus, this Peter kid's really a nerd."

"You could say that again," Ben said, pulling out a Midtown High decathlon hoodie.

Five stood up from the pile, not wanting to wear anything in there. As he was already thirteen, his clothes fit perfectly fine. He tried not to snicker as Luther but on a shirt that said, '_No matter how popular they get, antibiotics will never go viral!'_

Allison donned one that said, '_Are you a charged atom? 'Cause I got my ion you.'_

Everyone aside from Five changed, all wearing science puns with the exception of Ben, who'd put on the decathlon hoodie. Klaus was obviously displeased at the lack of clothes catering to his more eccentric style.

"What's a Friday?" Allison asked once they got changed.

Five was about to ask the same question when the disembodied voice from before spoke again. "I am Friday, Tony's personal AI assistant. My predecessor was Jarvis, though his intelligence went into the android Vision. I assist Mr. Stark with all manner of things, such as surveillance, technology, controls for the compound, etc."

"Awesome," Klaus nodded with a grin.

"I'm glad you think so. Might I ask your name? I doesn't seem to be in my database."

"Klaus."

"So, um," Five scratched his head. He was still reeling from smartphones, and now he was supposed to talk to an artificial intelligence? "I believe the boss man said something about dinner?"

If a disembodied voice could smile, Friday was certainly doing it. "Dining room is one floor down and to the right."

"Thank you," Allison said, shooting him daggers. Metaphorically, of course. To literally do so was more Diego's thing.

Five shrugged. It wasn't his fault that he didn't know proper robot etiquette.

"I guess we should head to dinner?" Diego said, looking for confirmation.

Five nodded. "Yes, we should."

"I'm staying, though," Allison stated firmly.

Luther's head snapped towards her. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Yes," she admitted. "But I want to be here with Vanya in case she wakes up. And you'll bring me food when you all come back."

Luther finally seemed to have his common sense returning, as he didn't argue with Allison's decision. "Okay," he nodded. "I'll bring something back for you."

As the brothers began filing out the door, Five moved over to where Vanya was laying. Allison gave him a sad smile. Truthfully, he also wanted to be there when she woke up. But his skin was crawling already from sitting still and he knew he had to be with his idiot brothers as they had dinner with these 'Avengers.'

"She'll be okay," he reassured Allison, knowing that it was just as much for him as for her. He'd left - there was no beating around the bush. He'd left and she'd been alone. This whole thing was just as much his fault as anyone else's.

Allison sighed, her eyes teary. "I just wish I had been a better sister."

Five nodded, knowing how she felt. "Well now we have a second chance." He could hear Klaus' laughter down the hall, knowing he had to go. "I'll be back after dinner. If she wakes up before then just let her know we're here for her."

She assured him that she would and ushered him out.


	2. Dinner

Wanda took her seat at the large dining table, admiring the grand setting. A steaming bowl of stew sat at the center, with many other foods supplementing the table. She hungrily eyed the cranberry jelly, but minded her manners as she waited for the others to arrive.

However, this was highly unusual. Pepper, very much the career woman despite being pregnant, rarely had time to make such a meal. And when she'd been called by Friday to come sit at the table, she'd been confused. Most of the time they ate where they chose - in front of the tv, at the table, or in their rooms. Dinner was rarely such a formal occasion.

Pepper came in, taking a seat next to where she expected Tony would put himself.

"Pep," she asked, brow furrowed, "What is with all this?" She gestured to all the food in front of her.

Pepper only rolled her eyes. "Tony adopted more kids."

She wasn't sure she wanted to know what that meant.

More of the Avengers filed into the room, Bucky taking a seat next to hers and Sam on his right side. Steve took the place to her left.

"This is different," Sam commented. "Not that I'm complaining, of course."

Loki entered then, straightening at the presentation. "What is with all of…"

Peter was patting the chair next to him. "Mr. Loki! Come sit by me."

The God was still eyeing the feast, looking between it and Tony with suspicion. Still, he complied with the Spider-boy's request.

Pepper noted his confusion, echoing the answer she'd given Wanda a minute ago. "Tony adopted more kids."

She wondered when she would get the full story to that, or when she would get to meet said kids. And that's when she noticed it: seven additional seats at the table. Interesting.

And then a sizeable group of children came walking into the dining room. Five of them, to be exact. The entire table went quiet, except Tony, who stood. "Kids! Sit, sit."

Wanda watched them as they looked around the room uneasily. She supposed it would be uneasy, walking into a room to dine with both the original Avengers and the New Initiative. She sat back in her seat, resisting the urge to look in their minds.

* * *

Ben walked into the dining room hesitantly, hoping his discomfort wasn't too obvious. But looking around at his brothers, he could see that they felt similarly. The room fell completely silent as they walked in, with the exception of Tony standing up to loudly greet them.

He briefly made eye contact with a girl who looked to be in her late teens, twenty at most. She had long brown hair, and her eyes seemed to penetrate deep into his soul. Actually, most of the people at the table were equally intimidating. His eyes averted quickly.

His brothers sat down, and he habitually moved to lean against the wall behind Klaus' chair.

Five was looking at him, brow raised. "Ben!" he hissed.

Ben's eyes widened, "Oh, fuck!" He jumped at his own voice as it echoed in the room. Ben shuffled to an open seat, flushing red with embarrassment.

"Um, are you okay?" the blonde man from before asked.

Ben refused to make eye contact, instead staring down at the red tablecloth. Klaus laughed at him. "Dude, did you just forget you were alive?"

"_Klaus,"_ Five was facepalming.

"What? You said to be honest." Klaus defended.

"It's true," Diego nodded. "You did say that."

Five groaned. "Okay, but maybe ease them into it a bit slower?"

Tony clapped his hands together, causing them all to turn. In their bickering, they had forgotten about the others in the room. "Okay, well, I think we should have some introductions first. I'm Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man, AKA genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. Over there we have Spangles," he pointed to blondie.

"Tony," blondie warned.

"Sorry, _Steve _Rogers. Captain America, the man frozen for seventy years. And then there's Natasha Romanoff, Black Widow."

A woman with long red hair with the ends bleached waved at them.

"Bruce Banner," the doctor from earlier smiled. "We've already met, but with any luck you guys won't have to meet the other guy."

Tony nodded. "And over there you have Clint. The archer."

Clint frowned at his less-than-cool introduction. "The _best _archer."

"Quiet, Katniss." Tony retorted.

Luther asked, "So you guys are… The Avengers?"

"We're the founding Avengers," Steve explained. "We're semi-retired now. We formed what is now the New Avengers Initiative. That consists of the others you see here: Scott Lang, Wanda Maximoff, Loki Odinson, Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, Ava Starr, and Peter Parker."

They all waved in turn.

"Where are the girls?" Tony asked them.

"Allison wanted to stay with Vanya," Diego replied for them.

Tony nodded, thinking. "So the unconscious one was Vanya, correct? And the other girl was Allison. Care to introduce the rest of you?"

"Luther," Luther puffed his chest out proudly.

"I'm Klaus," he said. "And this is Ben." Ben waved sheepishly, still embarrassed.

"Diego."

"And Five. I'm the one who brought us here, but not on purpose."

The one who'd been identified as Scott Lang raised his hand for a second, before asking, "Your name is Five?"

"Long story," Five shrugged.

A woman, Ava, spoke in a thick accent, "What did you mean by him 'forgetting he was alive?'" Her question was directed at Klaus.

"Longer story," Klaus smirked.

"And why did you need to travel through a portal?" Natasha inquired. "Running from something? Someone?"

Diego laughed. "I really don't think we have time for that story right now."

Silence for a few moments.

"So, you have abilities, I presume?" Loki spoke.

Ben spent a bit longer than he should have staring at the man, Loki. He bore the same name as the trickster god he'd read about in Norse mythology. He let himself wonder if there could be any connection, but shook it off. Of course not.

Klaus giggled. "I see dead people," he quoted _The Sixth Sense._

"Do you, now?" Bruce leaned forward, interested.

"Yep," Klaus nodded. "Oh, speaking of… Anyone got any drugs? Some good old fashioned herbal healing, if you know what I mean?"

"Klaus, you're thirteen," Diego hissed at him.

"Oh shit," Klaus scratched where his goatee used to be. He glared jealously at Tony's facial hair. Just another cruel reminder of the de-aging process. "You're right, you're right. My bad. Maybe we'll start with some light beer, or..?"

"Do not give him anything!" Five demanded.

Klaus growled at his brother. Yes, growled.

"Back to Loki's surprisingly relevant question, what do you guys _do?" _Natasha guided them back on track.

_Jesus, _Ben thought. They really were like children.

Five spoke for them. "Luther's strong, Diego throws knives, Allison is very _persuasive, _Klaus told you his, I jump through space and time, Ben summons monsters, and Vanya doesn't have powers." He finished his explanation very punctually.

They all gathered what he'd just said. "How did this come to be?" Bruce asked curiously. "Learned, exposed to radiation, something else…"

"We were all born on the same day under some rather unusual circumstances," Luther explained.

"I think we get to ask some questions, now." Five clasped his hands on the table.

"Shoot, kid," Clint offered.

"Here's something important," Klaus interrupted. "How's the moon here? Sturdy, right?"

Everyone stared weirdly at him, causing Five to kick him under the table. "I'll ask the questions," he flashed an obviously fake smile, looking very out of place on his features. "What's your protocol for random children appearing in front of your building?"

Tony and Steve exchanged glances. "This is a first, actually," Tony admitted.

"We don't intend to lock you away or anything, if that's what you're wondering." Steve was quick to ease them. "You're our guests."

Five nodded appreciatively. "Thanks. Now-"

"What's your name?" Klaus was saying into empty space.

The whole group turned to him. "Who's he talking to?" Peter audibly whispered.

"Ignore my brother," Five tried to get back to the conversation. This was a regular occurrence, Klaus just randomly talking to or staring at someone who wasn't there. Ghosts.

"I'm gonna call you Ghostie, otherwise it just gets _way _too confusing," he made a face and some vague hand gestures. "No, Ghostie. I am _not_ going to say that!"

Tony's face was contorted in confusion. He looked to Five, asking, "Is he a little…" He whistled in a way that clearly meant, "_crazy?"_

"Fine, fine! If you insist." Klaus was still continuing his conversation. He turned to Clint, across the table. "Ghostie wants me to tell you that you're an old man. Which I told him was rude, but…"

"What?" Wanda said, looking at him strangely.

Klaus shrunk under her gaze. And the stares of everyone else at the table, for that matter. "Was it something I said?"

"They want to know who you're talking to, dumbass." Ben rolled his eyes, the most vocal he'd been so far. His other brothers looked at him, surprised, but Klaus was used to this kind of attitude from him.

"He said his name was Pietro. Ring any bells to anyone here?"

Wanda and Clint exchanged a meaningful look, as the others watched with curious eyes. The Umbrella Academy sat, confused.

"Pietro was my twin," Wanda finally said. "Is- is he here?"

Klaus smirked. "You didn't see that coming." He turned back to the unseen person, saying quieter, "You're right - that is a cool line."

* * *

Wanda's heart skipped a beat when the boy, Klaus, insulted Clint using Pietro's old jab. "Pietro was my twin. Is- is he here?" Her mouth felt dry, her heart racing as she waited for the reply with bated breath.

Her suspicions were confirmed when he delivered her lost brother's trademark line. She released her breath shakily. "P-Pietro?" she asked to the empty space Klaus had just been conversing with.

Of course, there was no response. What did she expect? She turned her gaze downwards.

Klaus spoke up, his voice sympathetic. "He's here," he reassured her. "You can tell him something if you want."

Her eyes watered. It seemed that with all that had happened since Ultron she'd never really had time to grieve him. She'd taken the initial loss and put her anger and grief into training to be an Avenger. And then she'd gotten sucked into the whole ordeal with the Sokovia Accords, and it was safe to say that being on the run from the government didn't leave too much time to have feelings. And when she did start feeling too much, she had Vision to distract her.

Then Thanos had come and wiped out fifty percent of everyone. She thought as she dusted that maybe she would be reunited with both him and her lost lover, but her dying wish went unfulfilled as she woke up in the orangey abyss that was the soul stone.

"I don't know what to say," she admitted quietly. She was all too aware of all of her teammates watching her intently.

"Hold up," Sam said. "Not that I don't want to believe it, but how do we know this kid is telling the truth? Maybe he's just been watching us, or seen the footage from Sokovia."

Wanda looked down at her hands. She really, really wanted to believe that her brother was still here with her and that he'd always been there, but logically she knew that it was a relevant question.

Natasha, never too quick to trust someone, agreed. "Sam's got a point. How do we know?"

Wanda took a breath, hoping that she would get the answer she wanted. "Piet, do you see the bigger picture?"

The Klaus boy looked back at the space, face slightly wrinkled in confusion but he nodded. He turned back to Wanda. "He says no," he answered. "But he's got a little picture, whatever that means. Says he looks at it every day."

She couldn't help tearing up. "He's here," she voiced to the others. "He's really here."

Steve squeezed her hand. "Is there anything you want to tell him?"

She shook her head. "I- I don't know. I miss him. Every day."

Clint cleared his throat. "I'm sorry I treated you like some punk. You kinda were, but you were also a great kid. I wish things had gone down differently."

Klaus nodded, "He apologizes for calling you old."

One of the other kids, Ben, suddenly looked up. Most of the new kids had been silent through this whole thing, allowing them to have their moment. "Klaus, can you summon him?"

Klaus' eyes lit up, but then a look of doubt crossed his face. He shrugged.

"Oh my god, are you high?" Diego groaned.

"No!" Klaus defended. "You guys have been with me the whole time!"

"Then why not?" Five asked.

"I don't know how I do it! That time in the theater was- was a fluke! I can't just do it on command," Klaus objected to his siblings but turned to Wanda with an apologetic smile. "Sorry."

She shook her head, not wanting him to feel guilty. "No, no. Don't apologize - you've done more than enough already." She suddenly got an idea, and a bad one, but it would be worth it. "Could I- could I look in your head, please? Just to see him?"

Klaus' nose scrunched. "Huh?"

"I can see inside people's minds," she quickly explained. "I promise not to be too invasive, just-"

Five, realizing the implications of that, stood abruptly. "_No," _he stated firmly. He glared distrustfully at Wanda.

Her eyes widened. "That's fine; that's okay," she rushed out. "I didn't mean to upset anybody. I'm sorry."

"Five?" Luther warned, and Wanda noticed that he was gripping his fork a little too tightly. He seemed to realize this, too, as he dropped it with a _clink._

The boy sat back down.

The rest of dinner was a quieter affair, her eyes wandering to that one corner of the room every once in a while. She helped Bruce clean up the table after the meal as everyone dispersed, the kids presumably going back to their room.

"Are you okay?" Bruce asked her softly when they were alone, touching her arm.

She blinked tearfully, not making eye contact. "Yeah," she lied.

* * *

Allison sat at her sister's bedside, enjoying the quiet. The last week hadn't had too many quiet moments, and despite the fact that they were stuck in another universe, it felt like a relief.

She watched Vanya lay there, taking in every inch of her youthful face. When they were this age she had always thought of her sister as this burden, the odd one out. Like she'd said: she hadn't been a very good sister through it all. But she'd always thought that Vanya was _fine. _She excelled at the violin, throwing her heart into it. Little did she know that it was an instrument for focusing her pain long before she had discovered her powers. She thought Vanya was happy, but she wasn't. Those were fake smiles masking her pain and sadness, because hiding behind a smile was easier than fighting to express how she was feeling, and she couldn't fight because she was numb all the time from the drugs. It all made sense now, and Allison felt _horrible. _

"Hey, Friday?" she asked in a whisper, half expecting it not to work.

She managed to not jump as the voice answered readily despite having been dormant for some time now. "Yes, miss?"

"Could you play some violin music?"

"Of course," Friday replied. Soon Vivaldi was wafting into the room from the speakers.

Allison smiled at the music. It reminded her of evenings spent in her room, playing with her makeup or having long talks with Luther. Every night without fail Vanya would be playing the violin, and the sound traveled through the whole house when she did.

Her smile quickly faded as she remembered the way she'd treated Vanya. Of course, she'd been a kid, and kids didn't tend to find classical music very interesting. She'd made cruel comments to her. "Violin is boring," she'd sneered. When she'd had a long day and just wanted to sleep, she'd scream in the direction of her sister's room, "Shut up, Vanya!" And she did.

She'd once said, "Can't you play _cool _music?"

She'd been going through a Backstreet Boys phase at the time, and her favorite song was '_I Want It That Way.' _Vanya had gone through the trouble of buying the cd and learning it all by ear, as the song had no sheet music for the violin. The day Vanya had decided to play it for her as a surprise she'd been having a hard day after one-on-one training with Dad that left her exhausted. She might've said something snarky in response to the performance, but Five had cornered her beforehand.

He threatened that if she didn't at least act like she liked Vanya's performance that he would burn her favorite boa.

So she'd played nice, and when she clapped at the end and told Vanya how good it was (she truthfully had liked it), Vanya got a huge grin on her face. A big, huge grin that looked so much more real than any other smile she'd bore her whole life. Allison made a vow to put that grin on her face as often as possible.

And she did keep up with her promise, until a few months later when Five disappeared. And then Ben died. And it was like everyone completely forgot about Vanya. Until she wrote that book, and they all called her up to be jerks.

She was pulled from her reminiscing by Vanya stirring beside her. She sat up straight, nudging her sister. "Vanya," she whispered.

Vanya slowly opened her eyes, sitting up. She looked around the strange room in confusion, taking in both the surroundings and the fact that they had obviously gotten smaller. "Where are we?"

Allison gave her a comforting smile. "I think it's best that I let Five explain that one. He brought us here after…" Her voice trailed off, not sure if Vanya wanted to hear the words she was about to say yet.

Vanya seemed to suddenly remember everything. She looked at Allison with a horrified expression. "Allison, I- I caused the-" she started sobbing uncontrollably, unable to finish.

Allison only wrapped her in a hug, rocking her back and forth while murmuring sweet nothings.

* * *

Peter Parker sat on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He was staying at the Avengers compound for a few more weeks until school started up again. Then he would move back home with Aunt May, but of course still come to the compound a few days a week for Avengers training. And tinkering with Tony. And on the days he didn't come he would be out patrolling. But for now, May had thought that it would be best if he stayed with people who understood what he'd gone through. After all, dying in space was a pretty unique experience that would permanently scar anyone.

He had been dealing with the whole ordeal pretty well if he did say so himself. He borrowed Tony's method of keeping busy in the lab (though thankfully not his other, less healthy coping techniques).

He wondered about the new kids. He'd only gotten the bare minimum details about them. They seemed really interesting. Despite being typical siblings, they seemed too mature for their age. He couldn't help but get the feeling that they were older than him when talking to them, but obviously, they weren't.

He scrambled for his phone. He definitely needed to tell Shuri about the new superpowered kids living in the tower. And Ned and MJ, but he should probably ask Tony before divulging private Avengers information to his friends. He would still totally tell Ned anyways though, but it would have to be top secret.

_P: Shuri! You'll never guess what happened._

A few moments later, his phone dinged. _S: You found video evidence of T'Challa saying he's more of a dog person?_

_P: No…_

_S: Then tell me!_

_P: Some kids just fell out of a portal outside the compound - and they have powers!__ ϟϟϟ_

_S: NO WAY_

_P: Ya! They call themselves the Umbrella __Academy!_

_S: When do I get to meet them?!_

_P: IDK, but you should come over again soon!_

_S: Definitely! What are their powers?_

Peter thought, trying to remember what they all were. _P: Strength, knife throwing, persuasion, living ouija board, teleportation, monster summoning, and the last girl has no powers_

_S: COOL_

He began to type a text back, but stopped as the typing symbol popped up.

_S: no powers my ass_

_P: That's what they said._

_S: I bet twenty bucks she actually has powers_

_P: You're on!_

They texted back and forth for a little while longer, him telling her everything he knew and her ending with promising to come and visit soon.


	3. Night Talks

**Thanks if you've read this far! I love hearing your feedback on this story. I only cry a little bit **recieving** constructive criticism, so feel free to send it my way :P Also, I would love if anyone took the time to check out my other works, including The Violin's Treble (a what-if of Vanya and Leonard's relationship containing lots of good Vanya and Five sibling moments) and Marvel High (another high school Avengers AU no one asked for). Both fics plus this one are ongoing. Happy reading!**

Five had said that they would regroup after dinner and talk with all of their new knowledge of this world and the heroes living in it. However, immediately after arriving back at their room and being told by Allison that Vanya had woken up for a bit, they all crashed into a deep sleep. Allison, Vanya, and Ben all squeezed together on the bed; though given the mattress size, it wasn't very hard. Klaus slept sprawled across an armchair, much to the displeasure of Ben, who'd said that it couldn't possibly be comfortable. The rest of them slept on cots that had been brought up sometime while they were at dinner.

Maybe there was some truth in Ben's words, as he was finding it hard to get to sleep. But he was going to be stubborn and credit it to everything else that had happened.

On the contrary, the events of today (was it still technically today?) had the opposite effect on his dear siblings, who were out as soon as their heads hit the pillows.

He sat up in the chair, wincing as it creaked. Thankfully, no one woke. He looked around, the array of cots and people sleeping in such close proximity vaguely reminded him of his days in the army. He knew better than to look for Dave's cot.

He was sober - maybe he could talk to Dave? The idea complicated in his mind as he thought of what that meant. The ghosts in this world were different. With the exception of Pietro, who'd seemed like a fairly friendly spirit, he'd not spoken to any of them. The rest of them, the bad ones especially, didn't appear to know that he could hear them. Of course it was only a matter of time before he accidentally spoke to one, or made eye contact, or did anything to alert them of his unfortunate abilities. Then they would flock to him once more.

Since this world had different ghosts, it was entirely possible that Dave just wasn't here.

He wasn't going to try only to get disappointed. There was no point making such a ruckus in the spiritual realm if he wasn't there. All of his questions could be hashed out with Five in the morning.

But until then, there was no way he was going to sleep. He stood, taking a look at his siblings all curled up before walking out into the hall. He silently shut the door behind him.

He got about halfway down the hall when the voice in the walls asked, "Hello, Klaus. May I give you directions anywhere?"

Klaus shrugged, but didn't really know if the robot lady could see him. So he answered aloud, "Thank but no thanks; I'm going to wander around aimlessly for a bit."

"As you wish."

He continued down the hall, opting to take the staircase rather than the elevator.

He just went where his legs took him, peering into any open doors and just exploring while lost inside his own head. He didn't know where he was going, but as he walked past a door left ajar he could hear AC/DC coming from inside. Never one to pass up a party, he entered.

He found himself in a brightly lit lab, the sounds of someone tinkering away barely audible over the music. The person hard at work he identified as Tony Stark.

He hadn't been noticed yet, so he took a seat on the opposite side of the lab in a swivel chair, kicking back and tapping his foot to the song. If he were Five, or Luther, or any of his other more responsible siblings, he might have been observing everything in the lab and trying to learn everything he could about their new housemates. However he was Klaus, and the last word anyone would ever use to describe him would be 'responsible.' Along with 'sane,' or 'straight.' So he just enjoyed the music on this sleepless night in a land far, far from home.

His moment was disturbed when his elbow hit a tray, sending it and a bunch of other tiny metal objects clattering to the floor. He froze, his eyes darting to the only other person in the room. Tony would surely notice that.

And notice he did, as the man jumped and spun around to face him. Their eyes met, Klaus' own wide with apprehension. Did he really care what these people thought of him? Not really. Did he care what Five would do to him if he got them kicked out of this place or worse? Little bit.

But Tony, upon realizing it was one of his adoptive delinquents, flashed him a smile. "Hey, what's up?"

Klaus rubbed his arm. "Can't sleep. Heard music and it's unheard of for me to pass on a party."

Tony nodded, and something gave Klaus the idea that he understood. The sleeping thing or the party thing he wasn't sure, or possibly both. "Well, anyone with good taste in music is allowed to hang out down here."

Klaus 'hmm'ed in thanks, relaxing back in the seat he'd taken. He'd noticed the music's volume lowered when they started talking - smart robot lady.

Tony continued to tinker away at whatever he was making while Klaus fiddled with a broken pencil.

Tony eventually spoke, "So, talking to the dead, huh? That's pretty cool."

Klaus laughed dryly. "It sucks," he stated honestly. "God really gave me a big ole '_fuck you_.'"

Tony put down whatever he was doing and turned to face him, looking at him in confusion. "How so? I'd think that it would be pretty great to be able to talk to people you've lost after they're gone."

A look briefly graced the older man's features. Klaus knew that look. It was the same look everyone always got when they were imagining all the things they'd say if they had the chance.

He shook his head. "You don't want it - trust me."

"Why not?" The man's tone was curious, like he really wanted to understand. This was a welcome change to all of the times in the past when he'd expressed his hatred for his abilities towards his father. The old man would answer with the same words testingly, daring him to complain further. And if he did, he was usually punished for being ungrateful.

Klaus took a deep breath, exhaling loudly. He guessed he could divulge this information. Sometime during the conversation, he'd folded his legs up in the chair in a position that only he could make look comfortable. "There are nice ghosts, sure. People I've lost that I could still see. But there are a lot of bitter, angry spirits. And when they learn that I'm the only one in the world who can hear them… They don't leave me alone."

Tony looked at him with an unreadable expression. Probably pity and a mix of other sympathies, Klaus thought.

Tony asked, "What do they do?"

"They yell at me, scream my name. Get in my face."

"All the time?" Tony looked horrified.

"Pretty much. They only go away when I'm high or drunk. Speaking of…" Klaus trailed off hopefully.

"No," Tony stated firmly, though he had the decency to look sympathetic about it. "As unique as this case is, I'm not giving alcohol or drugs to a minor."

Klaus coughed. _Right_. He kept forgetting that he was back in his prepubescent body. He wanted to correct Tony, but another image in his mind of Five jumping him to Antarctica and ditching him there set him straight pretty fast. The southernmost continent was far too cold for the skirt he'd stolen from Allison. Which was back in their universe, anyways. _Damn._

"What have you done to try and control it?" Tony asked.

Klaus shrugged. "Well, aside from drugs and drinks-"

"Crack is whack and dope is a nope," Tony interrupted.

The rhyme almost threw Klaus off a beat - not what he'd expected - but he only slightly furrowed his brow as he finished, "Aside from that, dear old dad used to lock me in a mausoleum so I could get over my 'fear of the dark.' Didn't work."

If Tony had looked horrified before, it increased tenfold. "He did _what?_!"

"Yeah," Klaus chuckled. "They really let just anyone become parents."

Tony didn't laugh at his joke, frowning in thought.

Klaus filled the silence with some more pathetic childhood drama, because why not? He was on a roll, and would gladly take advantage of the free therapy session. "I'm kinda the family disappointment if you haven't noticed. What was it Dad had said? 'You are my greatest disappointment, Number Four.' Really nice fellow, you may have gathered. Mi hermanos and sisters don't really understand the whole hating your powers thing. Except for Ben. Ben gets it." He almost - _almost _\- brought up Vanya but thankfully stopped himself.

Tony finally held up his end of the conversation, saying, "Tomorrow you, me, and Bruce will get together and talk. I can't make any promises, but we'll work on a way for you to be able to control your abilities."

Klaus sat, stunned. He really hadn't expected that. To be honest, Tony Stark had at first given him the same vibe as dad had: egocentric billionaire more concerned with how the world saw him saving the world than actually saving it. Maybe, possibly, Tony had some ulterior motive up his sleeve to helping him out. But helping a kid shut out the dead? There didn't seem to be anything in it for him. That is, if he could actually figure out a way to help him, of which he was doubtful.

Klaus, speechless, only nodded. He half expected Ben to roll his eyes and tell him to say thanks or something, but remembered that Ben wasn't a ghost anymore, and thus was no longer attached to him. He cleared his throat. "Thank you."

Tony waved his hand. "Always need a new project. We'll call up our consultant, too. Make a party of it."

* * *

Loki sat in the living room, relaxingly laid across the couch and reading a book under a dim light. The room was quiet - not many people were up at this hour. The exceptions were him (reading), Banner (sitting in the corner writing something), and likely Stark (who just tended to be up at this hour).

Bruce was hunched over several pages, scrawling away some highly-complicated science thing. Loki preferred magic - much more straightforward.

"I can hear the cogs turning from all the way over here," he mumbled quietly. In the silence of the room, he could be heard clearly.

The corner of Bruce's mouth turned upwards slightly. "Why are you here again?"

"My favorite older sibling, not that there's much of a competition, thought it would be best for me to live among the Midgardians and use my second chance to atone for my attempts to subjugate the human race."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Okay, but why _here_?"

Bruce didn't actually mind having the Asgardian prince living with them. At least, not as much as he would have a few months ago. Through the events on Sakaar and the ragnarok of Thor's homeworld, he'd gotten used to Loki and his personality type. He was truly a disaster of a person, but most of it could be attributed to his father's lousy parenting skills and many deep personal issues. He certainly no longer feared the god - Hulk didn't, either. Not that either of them would ever admit it, but they were on the same team, together making up one half of the Revengers.

Loki flipped his page. "Evidently Stark loves taking in ex-murderers, ex-assassins… Hasn't everyone here tried to kill him at one point or another?"

Bruce sat silently, processing. "Not _everyone_," he mumbled, though he knew that the number was unfortunately rather high.

Loki smirked triumphantly and continued to read. The two fell back into their - dare he say companionable? - silence.

He was disturbed from his reading as another person entered the room. It was one of the children. _What was his name? _Loki racked his brain, not able to come up with anything.

"Ben," Bruce greeted with a gentle smile. "Is everything alright?"

_Ah, yes. Ben. _Perhaps he should've paid a tad more attention during the introductions than he had. In his defense, he thought these were ordinary Midgardian children Tony had adopted rather than mini Avenger-ettes from another realm as he'd been filled in by the Spider-child later.

Ben was looking rather like a deer caught in the headlights, obviously not having expected to run into anyone. "Um, yeah," Ben looked down at his bare feet. "I mean, no. Have you seen my brother, Klaus?"

"Is he not in your room?" Bruce asked.

Ben shook his head.

Bruce nodded. He barely raised his voice to say, "Hey, Friday? Do you know where Klaus is?"

Friday replied, "Yes, sir. Klaus is in the lab with Mr. Stark."

"Thanks, Fri." Bruce looked back to the boy.

"Oh, thanks," Ben said, fidgeting.

Loki thought that this kid, Ben, was odd. The air to him was almost defiant, whereas his mannerisms screamed uncertainty. He seemed to be out of touch with his surroundings and slightly unaware, more than could be chalked up to just teenage awkwardness.

Bruce, while not being as inept at reading people, could also tell something was off with him. "No problem. Is anything else bugging you?"

Ben shrugged. "Not really."

Bruce, as patient and understanding of a person as he was, accepted this as a perfectly fine answer.

Loki was not Bruce. "Come on, kid. 'Spill the tea,' as the spider would say."

Ben didn't pretend to understand the second half of that, but got the gist. Before he could stop himself, he blurted out, "I used to be dead."

They were looking at him in confusion. Loki scratched his head. _Dead? _"Actually dead? Or just fake dead?" He had an abnormal amount of experience with both kinds.

"Actually dead," Ben confirmed.

Bruce looked speechless, but managed out a few words. "What? ...How?"

Ben continued to stand in the middle of the room. "I was a ghost, up until a few hours ago. I don't know - Five brought me back when he brought us here."

Loki's mind processed the information. That made sense, why he was so out of place. The kid had been a spirit up until he arrived here. "Five. He can bring back the dead?"

Ben shook his head. "I don't- I don't think so. No. Coming here was a bit of a fluke, really. We don't know how it all happened."

Loki looked over at Bruce, who was still reeling in stunned silence. He inwardly rolled his eyes, realizing he would have to be the one asking the questions. "How long were you dead for?"

Ben opened his mouth like he was going to answer, but stopped. For whatever reason, he didn't want to tell them this bit of information. He ended up mumbling, "Few years."

He connected some dots in his head - the dead kid with the kid who can talk to the dead. Made sense. "And your brother Klaus…"

"He could see me," Ben finished. "I mostly just hung out around him for that time. I'm not really used to not knowing where he is."

Bruce finally coughed. "Well, I guess we should get you to him." He stood, reaching for the boy's shoulder. Ben flinched, but everyone pretended not to notice. "Thanks for sharing," Bruce smiled at him.

Loki gave a small wave as the two of them exited, Bruce leading the way down to the lab. He pulled his feet back up on the couch and picked up his discarded book, finding where he'd left off.

Bruce walked the kid to the lab, and pushing open the door he found Tony and Klaus looking like they had just finished up a rather serious conversation. He made sure to enter loudly so they would know he was there.

"Bruce," Tony said. "What's up?"

Ben entered the room after him, immediately finding Klaus. "Hey," he said. "I was looking for you."

Klaus put a hand over his heart, miming that he felt touched by the act. "You _do _care!"

"Maybe I was just making sure you weren't getting some cigarettes and calling it a 'midnight snack,'" Ben raised his eyebrows.

Klaus bit back, "Drop dead."

Bruce almost gasped at the bluntness of the comment, but Ben only looked exasperated at his brother. "Harsh."

Klaus smirked.

"But now that I've ensured you're not doing anything illegal, I think it would be best if we went back to the room?" Ben asked.

Klaus could clearly sense the doubt in his brother. He'd have thought it impossible, but perhaps his bro had gotten a bit attached to him during his time as a spirit. He would never admit it, but the thought warmed his cold, dead heart just a tiny bit. He strode towards his brother, throwing an arm around his shoulders and leading them out. "I think you've had enough beauty sleep to last the rest of your life, but I'm certainly exhausted."

Ben chuckled with a hint of relief in his voice. "Please, haunting your ass was a lot of work."

Bruce watched in amusement as the two kids left the lab, apparently headed back to their room. He turned to Tony. "So, I got to have an interesting talk with Ben."

Tony collapsed in the swivel chair Klaus had just been sitting in. "I just did with Klaus, too. God, the kid has it hard."

"Ben was _dead."_ Bruce stated.

Tony's eyebrows shot up comically. "_What?!"_

He nodded. "Yep. He said that he's been dead for a few years and only just came back when they got here."

Tony glanced at the door they had just left through, weighing the interaction they had just witnessed with his newfound information. "Okay, so some of that makes sense now. Actually, it explains a good bit. Did he say how he died?"

"It seemed a bit insensitive to ask, so no." Bruce answered. Not even Loki had bothered with that question, and the dude wouldn't know human social norms if they slapped him in the face.

Tony ran a hand over his face. "Well, tomorrow you and I will be getting to work on Klaus' little ghost problem, so clear your schedule."

Bruce wrinkled his nose. "Not sure I want to know what that means, but will do. Night, Tony."

"Night, Bruce."

* * *

Vanya was on the roof. She didn't know why, or really how she got up there. But she was sitting on the ledge, looking at the view of the Avenger's facility. It was private enough, but not isolated from the rest of the world. When she listened, she could easily hear the bustle of the city no more than a few minutes away.

She stared at her feet dangling over the edge, fascinated by their little size. Realizing that she'd been reverted back to her thirteen year old self had been a bit of a shock, to say the least.

_Why did they bring me? _It was the question that had been haunting her since she'd woken up. It would've been a much smarter, cleaner choice to leave her behind in the mess she'd made of the world. Or kill her. The choice it came down to was simple: seven billion people or her?

Thinking about it made the breeze pick up around her, whipping her hair around gently.

A person was suddenly sat on the ledge beside her, and she startled, nearly dropping to her doom. A hand shot out to steady her. Five's concerned eyes met her. "Sorry, you okay?"

"Yeah," she answered as her heartbeat slowed back to a normal rate. "Have you been there long?"

He shook his head. "Just got here. I suppose I should've been a bit more obvious."

"Just a bit," she agreed. "How did you know I was here?"

"Had a feeling."

Of course she would be here. Back when she was feeling especially left out, she would hide out on the roof of the academy, watching all of the other people in the world. Five had discovered this habit of hers and taken to keeping her company while she did so. At least, he had until he'd disappeared.

She breathed out loudly, asking the question of the night: "Why did you bring me, Five?"

He shrugged. "Couldn't exactly leave you behind, could I?"

"I caused the apocalypse," she stated.

"_We _started the apocalypse," he correct firmly. "Between our shitty siblinghood and Reginald's atrocious parenting, it was a joint effort. You were just a casualty."  
She didn't quite believe his words - it was her who ultimately decimated the planet, was it not? - but knew better than to argue. "Still, you brought the apocalyptic timebomb to these people's world."

"That's not going to happen again in _any _universe." Five was silent for a moment, something worrying him.

She looked sideways at him, wondering what could be putting such a concerning look on his face. "Five?"

"You weren't going to jump, were you?" he asked, looking at her seriously.

She laughed, though there was absolutely nothing funny about what he'd just asked her. Even she knew that. "No, I'm not. It would make things easier, though. Wouldn't it?"

"It would _not-"_

"No, it would," she mused contemplatively. "There's no denying that." She put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "But I promise I won't."

He relaxed at her word. "Good. This is a second chance - we'll get it right this time."

"I really hope you're right."

"I always am," he smirked confidently. There was the Five she knew. "We'll get you to where you can control your powers. None of us could really control them at first. Remember when we were little and I kept running into walls?"

She smiled her first genuine smile in a while. "Yeah, I remember that."

"Exactly, you just haven't practiced."

"Or I could just stay on the pills for the rest of my life and not have to worry about it."

"Being numb to everything isn't living, Vanya," he told her sadly. "Besides, I told you we would be doing things differently this time around. And I do _not _intend to become Reginald 2.0."

"He really was the worst," she admitted. "How are the others doing here? I haven't had a chance to talk to them really, yet."

Five shrugged. "Luther's bitter that he's no longer first in command, and Allison is still pissed off at him for locking you up…"

She shivered, though it probably didn't have anything to do with the slightly more forceful breeze brushing against her bare arms. In her mind she knew that it was probably the right choice, but the painful past traumas in that room that she hadn't known she possessed haunted her.

"Diego's coping surprisingly well with the whole 'in another universe' deal. Klaus is still Klaus, and Ben's doing his best to adjust to suddenly being thrust back into the land of the living."

Vanya smiled. "I saw him while he was sleeping."

Five nodded. "Though when I woke up, him and Klaus were both missing."

"Should we be worried?"

"Nah," Five said. "Ben's with him. He can't be getting into _too _much trouble."

"He is Klaus," she pointed out.

"True," he chuckled.

She switched topics, "So, these people we're staying with. What are they like?"

Five stared out at the lights on the horizon. "Well, for starters they're superheroes, like us."

"Like you guys."

"Like us," he restated. "You're one of us, powers or no powers. But anyways, they call themselves the Avengers. They're like this universe's Umbrella Academy. Although, apparently superpowered people are a bit more common in this world than in ours. They've been nothing but hospitable to us so far, though I can tell they're a little wary."

Vanya nodded. "Anyone would be."

Five made a noise in agreement. "We haven't told them about anything pertaining to the apocalypse. At the moment they think that we're actually thirteen, coming here was just an accident, and that you don't have powers - sorry. We just thought it would be best that-"

"No, no," Vanya waved off his explanation. "They don't need to know that they're living with a bomb."

"You're not a bomb," he stressed. "However they don't know _you, _and may be quick to jump to conclusions similar to Luther's."

"Or worse," she nodded. "Though I wouldn't blame them."

She could tell Five was growing worried and a bit frustrated by her talk of self-sacrifice, as he replied, "You're our sister. We'll protect you."

"I know you will," she smiled softly. She knew that the majority of her siblings would fight tooth and nail for her, and even if they didn't, she would deserve the fate doled out to her.

Five hopped off the ledge, standing. "Bed?" he asked simply, holding his hand out to help her down.

She nodded, taking one last look at the bird's-eye view of the dark facility before taking it, hopping down. In truth, she was still pretty exhausted. The stroll up to the roof had been practically a sleepwalk, and she must've been dreaming, because she swore that she heard a woman's voice similar to mom's coming from the walls.


	4. Meemees

**Attention: This story will proceed as planned despite whatever the outcome of Endgame will be.**

Tony walked into the kitchen rubbing his tired eyes. He'd like to have said that after the late-night conversation with Klaus, he returned to his and Pepper's bed and gotten a decent amount of sleep to deal with the work ahead. Unfortunately, that wasn't quite how it went. He did eventually fall asleep, but that was drifting off in his chair after several hours of trying to find any information on communication with the afterlife.

In their world they had lots and lots of crazy stuff that went on. Infinity stones, homicidal robots, soldiers frozen in time, a hulk… However despite all of this, their world seemed to be lacking in anyone _actually _being able to see and talk to the dead. He'd spent hours on countless websites for mediums and even briefly studied up on ouija boards. Still, nothing.

He'd told this kid he would do everything he could to help him, but how was he going to do that if there was nothing to go off?

When he entered the kitchen, he was surprised to find Pepper supervising the making of pancakes with two of the children. One he recognized as Ben, and the other was the girl who had previously been unconscious, Vanya.

"Hey, Pep," he said, kissing her on the cheek. "Kids," he gave them a wave. Amusingly, it didn't seem like Vanya needed much help. With only a little direction around the workspace from Pepper, she was cooking like she did it all the time. Maybe she did; he didn't have any clue.

Ben, on the other hand, was struggling with measuring out ingredients. Flour was all over the place, including himself. Tony would've chalked it up to just the clumsiness of a teenage boy, but now he knew that it wasn't the prepubescent hormones rather than an adjustment back into the land of the living.

"Hey, Tony," Pepper said. "You haven't met Vanya yet, have you?"

He shook his head no.

Vanya flashed him a shy smile and a, "Hey."

"Nice to meet you," Tony tried to put a comforting look on his face. The girl seemed nervous, which was completely understandable. From what he'd been told, Vanya was also the only one of them to now have powers of any sort. Therefore, she was more vulnerable than the others.

Then again, the way Ben moved closer to her as soon as he'd entered the room said otherwise.

She nodded, replying, "You too. Thanks for letting us stay here."

She was quieter and much more mild-mannered than the rest of her siblings, Tony thought. "I see you're making breakfast?"

"Ben's idea," she dismissed. "They'll be done in a few minutes."

Tony nodded, taking a seat at the table. Five came in just then, plopping down at the table with a groan.

Vanya let out a little laugh - apparently Five was notoriously not a morning person. "Good morning, Five," she smiled in her brother's direction.

Five only grumbled back, "Coffee, pronto."

Tony chuckled, "A kid after my own heart."

Peter entered the kitchen a moment after, sitting at the table as well. He curiously looked at the three other children, but kept quiet. _Come on, kid. Don't be so shy, _he mentally urged.

As Peter still hadn't spoken and didn't look like he was going to, Tony threw one arm over the boy's shoulders. "Peter here is my protege. Takes after me in all the good ways," he ruffled his hair, smirking as the boy flushed red.

Vanya and Ben both offered him smiles. Five, however, remained slumped over in his chair.

Peter noticing Vanya, said, "Oh, I don't think we've met."

_Finally, kid, _Tony smiled approvingly. _Go make friends._

Vanya shook her head. "I'm Vanya. And you are?"

"Peter Parker," Peter grinned, fixing his hair. "Are- are you okay now?"

Vanya hesitated, but said, "Yeah. I am, thanks."

Five picked his head up to look at her. "She'll be fine," he answered protectively.

Peter nodded, not picking up any hostility in the other boy's tone.

Vanya placed a mug of coffee in front of Five. It was as black as coals, Tony noted. Just the way he liked it, but he couldn't picture a single kid who would enjoy something so bitter.

Pepper seemed to notice to, offering, 'We have milk and sugar if you want it."

Five only took a big gulp from the mug, sighing contentedly. As if coming alive, he sat up straighter, looking to Tony. "Do you have anywhere we can train, preferably somewhere private?"

Tony was slightly taken aback, having temporarily forgotten that these kids were miniature superheroes. "Um, sure. You guys can take the training room for yourselves today."

Five nodded appreciatively. "This might sound weird, but…" he looked over to where Vanya was still making pancakes. "Could we get a violin, too? My sister loves to play."

"Yeah, of course. I'll have Happy pick one up as soon as possible." It was certainly an odd request, but one that was easily fulfilled.

"Thanks," Five said.

Tony nodded.

Peter piped up, "Is it alright if I tagged along?"

Five visibly stiffened. Ben and Vanya were exchanging looks, and then looking to Five to see what he would say. He seemed to apparently be elected leader. Tony didn't know why they were so worried about Peter going with them - to people who were unfamiliar with Spider-Man, he definitely didn't seem very threatening - but he didn't want for there to be any tension. "We'll give them today, Pete," he said. "They can train with the rest of us when they're ready."

Peter nodded, thankfully not seeming at all put off by the rejection. His kid was such a sweet person.

_Woah, wait, _Tony backtracked. _His _kid?

He didn't have too much time to dwell on it as everyone else found their way into the kitchen and pancakes were served. Most of the Avengers opted to take a plate and go sit in the living room in front of the television, while the Umbrella Academy kids along with himself, Peter, and Pepper remained in the dining room. The kids talked a bit, but mainly dug into their food.

"This is great, Van," Allison sent a grateful smile to her sister.

"They really are," Pepper agreed. "You make pancakes often?"

Vanya smiled at the compliments, but shrugged. "You could say that."

Ben nudged Klaus, gesturing to the cup in front of him. "Look, Klaus," he pointed. "Orange juice. A normal breakfast."

Klaus gave a half-hearted glare to his brother at what must have been an inside joke between the two.

He sensed a lot of history between the siblings, much more than any ordinary thirteen year olds would have. Perhaps the shared experiences as superpowered children made them that way. After all, Wanda was Peter's age when they'd met her, but through her past traumas and experiences she was molded into a much more mature person than most her age. It was easy to forget that she was barely an adult now.

* * *

Breakfast finished and everyone dispersed. He'd somehow been volunteered to clean up everyone's plates via his wife and was noisily shoving them in the dishwasher.

"I think you're supposed to rinse them first," Steve pointed out, appearing behind him.

Tony looked at the plates, sighing heavily. "Then _what, _exactly, is the point of a dishwasher?"

Natasha also silently appeared, nearly causing him to drop a fork. "Plates go on the bottom."

Tony grumbled to himself. "Shut up. You both can do it yourselves if you're so concerned."

"What's the plan for today, Tony?" Natasha asked seriously.

"The _plan?"_

Steve nodded. "You know - with the kids."

Tony shrugged. "I don't know. One of them asked if they could use the training room today, so I guess they're going to be training." He smirked at Steve's concerned look. "Don't worry, Cap. There are enough training facilities here to go around."

Natasha frowned. "I don't think we should be letting them go off to do whatever, Tony."

"Why not?"

"We don't know who they are or why they're here," Natasha explained.

"Nat," Tony groaned. His teammates could be so suspicious, and rightfully so, but these were children. With everything that had happened as of late, Tony wasn't too inclined to feel threatened by a bunch of thirteen year olds. "They're _kids."_

"Exactly, Tony. We can just let kids run around and do whatever they want," Steve agreed with Natasha on this one.

"They're not just any ordinary kids, though."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Now you're proving _my _point. We don't know the extent of their abilities or what they intend to do with them."

Damn. He was digging himself into a hole here, backed into a corner by the deadliest woman he knew and Mr. Righteousness himself. "Fine, fine," he caved. "We'll keep an eye on them, okay? But until proven wrong I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt."

Steve nodded, happy with the compromise. Natasha seemed doubtful, but accepted nonetheless.

"Probably after they train Bruce and I are going to work on helping that Klaus kid."

"What's wrong with him?" Natasha asked. As distrustful as she was of newcomers, she did love children. It was easy to tell by how good she was with Clint's kids. And they loved their Aunt Nat.

"Apparently he's got a bit of a ghost problem. He can see the dead, but he can't _stop _seeing the dead. The spirits torture him all day every day, unless he's intoxicated."

"Geez," Steve winced. "He seemed pretty okay this morning."

"He said that besides Pietro, the ghosts here don't know he can talk to them yet. Bruce and I are just going to see if there's anything we can do to help."

Natasha put a hand on his shoulder. "If anyone can do it, it's the two of you."

Tony sighed. "I hope so. Their dad seems like a bit of a dick, from what he told me." He wasn't sure if the fact that he'd been locked in a mausoleum was a secret he'd confided in only him or if it was public information, but either way he didn't want to lose the kid's (poorly-placed) trust.

"Something does seem a bit off about them. Do you think they were abused?" Natasha asked.

Steve frowned at that idea, admittedly not having thought of it. All he'd heard about the children so far was that they were superheroes in their world, and thus he'd assumed they'd been treated as such. It had not yet occurred to him that they might not have lived such happy childhoods.

"I don't know," Tony said truthfully, "but it is certainly a possibility. At least, Klaus has definitely got some emotional trauma from their father, but I have no idea about the rest."

"They're definitely oddballs," Clint said, appearing out of nowhere.

The occupants in the room all startled, Tony making an inhuman screech. "Jesus, Barton!" he snapped. "How the hell did you sneak up on us?"

Clint shrugged, reaching for a bag of doritos. "I'll leave you all to ponder than question, but back to the more pressing matter: the kids. What _exactly _is our plan here?"

Natasha's eyes stared straight into Tony. "Yes - I'd like to know as well."

Tony didn't have a plan. What in the world was he even supposed to be planning? Obviously, the question of how to send them back was first in his mind, but none of the seven seemed all too eager to _go _back home. Besides, inter-dimensional travel seemed to be more of the Five kid's area of expertise.

At his silence, Steve spoke. "Well, we can't really kick them out on the streets, can we? So I guess we let them stay here as long as they need - or want."

Tony rolled his eyes as they accepted the answer. If he'd said the exact same thing, he'd be criticized for putting his adoptees before anything else, and told to come up with an actual plan. But since it was _Cap, _saying it, it was totally _fine._

"As I was saying, Tony," Natasha looked at him pointedly. "Watch. Them."

"Fine, fine," he waved her off, drying his hands and leaving the room.

* * *

The Avengers' training facilities were enormous, and far more advanced than anything the Academy had ever seen. Tony had given them access to one of the training rooms for the day and the single room was practically the size of a football court, with soft floors and padded walls. Training in the Hargreeves' mansion was nothing compared to this.

It was abundantly clear that even by the little corner they'd seen of it, this Earth was much more equipped to handle superpowered beings.

Vanya was nervous, to say the least. She did her best to ignore the soundwaves she could hear, not wanting to manipulate them accidently on account of her nerves. Any time she got too worked up, a gust of wind would suddenly rush around her, effectively reminding her to quiet her emotions.

Five stood in the middle of the training room with her, while the rest of her siblings watched from the sidelines. She knew that they were there half out of curiosity and half out of wanting to be supportive as she navigated her new abilities, however she couldn't help but wish that she didn't have so much of an audience.

Five was looking at her expectantly. He'd probably said something while she was lost in her head, attempting to silence the younger her inside that seemed to be so full of vengeance. "Sorry, what was that?" she asked him, her voice trembling slightly.

He might've been frustrated with her lack of attention, but at her waver his face softened. "I said, do you remember anything about how father approached training you to harness your abilities?"

She thought to the vague flashes of memory she had before Allison had rumored her, and nodded. "He used a tuning fork," she answered. "He had me manipulate the frequency."

Five nodded, face unreadable. "I take it that it didn't work?" It wasn't a question.

She shook her head, remembering shattering the glasses, as well as several other things in the room. "No. The sound was so harsh - I broke things."

Five crossed his arms, a hint of annoyance seeping through, though she knew that it wasn't directed at her. "Well, we won't be doing that, then. That's for sure." She watched curiously as he took off the bulky bag slung over his shoulder.

He pulled from it a black case, obviously housing a violin. She shook her head, backing away.

He quirked a brow at her. "It's not going to eat you, you know."

She averted her eyes from the instrument. "I'm not touching it."

He said nothing, opening the case and carefully taking it out.

She couldn't help gawking at it. The interior of the case was a deep blue velvet. The violin itself was absolutely beautiful. The color was a deep rosewood, no scuffs or scratches. Every piece of it, scroll to button, was just the paragon of elegance. The fingers on her left hand twitched, itching to dance along the frets.

She gulped, shaking her head again. "I can't- I don't…"

"It'll be fine," Five said. "You've played the violin all your life. Why is this any different?"

"Why is it any different?" she begged, exasperated. Why couldn't he understand? "The last time I played, it didn't go so well, if you haven't forgotten!" As she raised her voice, wind picked up again, though in the nearly-empty room it did little more than ruffle their hair. She calmed herself, before explaining, "I hurt people, Five. I hurt you guys, and I'm not going to do it again."

Five still held the instrument, slightly awkwardly in his hands. "You won't. We'll take it nice and easy. Besides, I think we kind of deserved it, didn't we?"

"You didn't," she answered. The angry, hurt little girl inside of her never had anything bad to say about Number Five, but he still got caught up in her vengeful destruction.

"I've done _plenty," _he smirked. He inched the violin just slightly closer to her.

Something from deep inside of her pulled, urging her to take it. She wasn't sure if it was her powers reaching for their outlet, or the little girl asking her father if she might be able to play the old violin he had laying around, or the professional musician inside her that had devoted her entire life to mastering the instrument. She subconsciously reached her hands forwards, wanting it.

Five gave her a smile, passing it over, and hesitantly she took it.

The wood was so smooth, the strings firm and ready to be played. She ran a hand over the surface, admiring it. The violin had definitely cost a pretty penny, probably much more than her own had, despite the fact that she'd saved up forever to buy it.

As she was in awe of the instrument, Five had set up a row of wine glasses between them. When she looked up, her handed her the bow.

"I don't want to hurt you," she echoed.

"I'll just grab the violin and jump away if it gets too bad," he waved away her concern. She didn't bother with pointing out the many flaws with that plan. "Just start easy - try to break one of the glasses."

She took a deep breath, raising up the violin to the playing position and readying her bow. _Focus, Vanya. _

"You got this, Vanya!" Klaus called from where the rest of her siblings were sitting what she hoped was a safe distance away.

"Not _helping, _Klaus," Five barked.

Once the room was silent again, she focused her attention on the glass in the middle. Gingerly, she allowed the bow to come into contact with the strings, beginning to play.

She picked a quiet melody, not too quick and not too strong. She kept her focus solely on the middle glass, ever so slowly allowing the energy inside her to build. The feeling washed over her again, and she would later be told that her eyes had gone white. As she felt the power rise, she held out a longer note, taking the soundwaves and sending it straight through the middle glass.

As it shattered, she closed her eyes, horrified that she'd broken all of the glasses, or Five, or the building, or the _moon…_ But when she opened her eyes everything was still intact - no giant holes in the ceiling, the building still standing, Five grinning at her, and all glasses except for the middle one standing unharmed.

She let herself smile as Klaus and Allison whooped from her personal audience. She turned towards them, gauging their reactions. Ben looked proud, Diego seemed surprised, and Luther looked a mix between proud and guilty.

Her smile faltered as she made eye contact with him. She desperately wanted to forgive him, but looking at him reminded her of being locked in that room, terrified, begging to be let out. Looking at him reminded her that he had never been there for her when they were kids, and he certainly wasn't when it really counted.

It wasn't like she really even blamed him for the decision he'd made. It was a hard decision but clearly the smart one, even if it hadn't turned out going as planned. But she just _couldn't._

She turned away from them, looking back to Five, who had a twinkle in his eye. "Want to try another?"

"Sure," she said. She selected the glass to the right of the one she'd just shattered and restarted her melody.

Just like last time, she let the power build slowly, waiting until it was just the right amount to direct it. But then there was the sound of someone sniffing, breaking through her concentration. With her abilities, she could clearly tell that it was Luther who had sniffed. His face flashed in her mind - his older face.

He was looking at her through the glass of the cell, staring at her like she was something foreign. She was a test subject, an alien, a wild animal that needed to be contained. She was screaming, begging to be let out. She screamed that she didn't want to do it - she'd lost control. Then her siblings were coming in, but he wouldn't let them release her, even as she begged and cried for them, apologizing over and over. Then Allison came in, thankfully alive but with a bandage over her throat and a notepad in her hand…

And then she was back at Leonard's, arguing with her sister as the entire house shook around them because she just couldn't control it. Allison started to rumor her and she panicked, lashing out with her bow. Her sister fell to the ground, bleeding profusely from the gash in her throat. She sobbed over her, Leonard pulling her away and her being wholly convinced that she had just killed her sister, the very one who was only trying to protect her…

"_Vanya!" _Instead of Leonard's voice as he dragged her away from the scene, it was Five's.

She came back to the real world, yanking her bow hand away from the instrument as soundwaves exploded from where she stood in every direction. Five went flying a good ten feet away, his name being shouted by one of her siblings, or by her - she couldn't tell.

She hurriedly put the violin and bow on the floor, crossing her arms and looking at her feet. She didn't want to know what she'd done.

Five stood up, walking back over to her. "Vanya," he said gently, putting a hand on her arm.

She shook off his touch, staggering a few steps back. Her eyes flew up to look at him, needing to be sure he was okay and that she hadn't hurt him. He thankfully looked perfectly fine, and she let out a breath of relief. She let her eyes look around the room. All of the glasses were destroyed, along with the room's large wall mirror, and the opposite wall had a long crack running across it.

She burst out crying, horrified with what she'd done. She was dangerous. It was far too easy to get lost in herself, and when she did nothing but destruction ensued. Five's arms were wrapped around her, but she didn't bother pushing him away this time. Soon Allison joined him, and Klaus, and Ben. Luther and Diego didn't get in on the group hug, but both gave her comforting looks.

They backed off when she sobered up, giving her space.

"How do you feel?" Allison asked.

She could've laughed at that. "I'm fine. Are _you _all okay? Did I-"

"No," Diego shook his head. "We're all fine, Vanya. Everything's fine."

She nodded, suddenly feeling exhausted.

Five spoke up, "Hey, that was actually good, right? The first time you did perfectly, which means that you can control it. You just need practice."

"I don't think I should do it anymore," she wiped the tear tracks on her face with her sleeve.

Klaus laughed. "Oh, little sis. If there's one thing you should've learned from me, it's that you don't get to choose to just turn your abilities off."

She looked down, not having thought about it that way. Klaus hated his powers - Ben too - but they both found ways to manage. But then again, their powers weren't apocalyptic.

Five agreed, "Yeah. We'll call it good for today and get back to it tomorrow, alright?"

She nodded, too tired to argue further. Allison linked their arms and led the way out of the training room and back to the compound.

"You did good, sis," Diego told her.

A smile graced her features at the unexpected praise coming from the very same brother who'd up until very recently seemed to despise her. Yes, she had terrifying new powers that caused nothing but chaos and destruction. Yes, the first time around her father had locked her away until he could figure out some way to suppress them. Yes, she had ended up causing the apocalypse. And it was all happening again. Except this time, she had support from her family.

* * *

Tony Stark sat in his lab, observantly watching the kid currently lazily spinning about in his swivel chair. Bruce sat next to him, holding a pen and a notepad. No matter how many times he insisted that Friday would record everything, his science bro still insisted on writing things down by hand.

The Klaus kid had come down to the lab so they could work on his little ghost issue. Tony guessed that by the lack of urgency he showed at curing his problem, the ghosts probably hadn't found him yet. Either that, or he didn't really believe they could help him.

"Should I call the consultant?" Bruce asked.

Tony nodded. "Yes. Get her on the line." Due to the unexpected nature of this problem and the complete lack of experience either scientists had with the paranormal, it would be best to have as many brilliant minds on the case as possible.

Friday called the number, and they waited as it rang once, twice…

"Who's the consultant?" Klaus whispered.

He was cut off by the call suddenly being answered. "What is up, my favorite white people?!" Shuri greeted, laughing.

"Um, thank you?" Bruce lifted a brow, unsure if that was really a compliment or not.

"We have a bit of a problem that we could use some help with," Tony got straight to explaining.

"Yes, we most certainly _do _have a problem," she snapped. "Peter tells me you have some superhero visitors! Why have I not been contacted until now?!"

Tony groaned. "Well, because that information was _supposed _to be classified. Do you know if he told anyone else?"

Shuri hesitated just a moment too long before answering, "No."

"Are you sure?" Tony prodded.

"Are you questioning me?" she retorted, dodging the question. All occupants in the room could tell that she wasn't the only one who knew.

"Fine," Tony said. "Just don't go spreading it around more than it already has, kapeesh?"

"You got it, Female."

Tony looked at the speaker her voice was coming from in confusion. "What did you just call me?"

Somehow her eye roll made it across the phone call. "Fe is iron… Male is man… Female is Iron Man. Keep up! You are supposed to be geniuses!"

Tony was about to send some snark back her way when Klaus giggled, "Nerds," under his breath.

"Who was that?" Shuri asked eagerly. "I don't recognize the voice."

"One of the kids you weren't supposed to know about," Tony answered.

"I'm Klaus," he introduced himself.

"Shuri," she said. "If we are to be friends, you must first finish this sentence: So I was sitting there…"

Klaus scratched his head, and Tony couldn't blame the kid. Who in their right mind got her and Peter's references? They were always going on and on about meemees.

"Getting high, I hope," Klaus shrugged.

Shuri huffed. "You are on thin fucking ice, but as it is currently four-twenty that is an acceptable answer."

"Should we be getting to work..?" Bruce offered.

"Yes, we should," Tony was quick to agree. "So the reason we called you is because Klaus here has a little problem with his abilities. As I'm telling you this, just go along and pretend that Peter hasn't told you all of it already. Anyways… Actually, Klaus, do you want to explain it?"

Klaus threw his bare feet up on the desk - when had he taken his shoes off? - and rehashed his story. "Well, I can see and talk to dead people. Which is nice, sometimes."

The previously dead brother, Ben, Tony remembered.

"But most of the time it sucks. Once they find out that I can see them, they never leave me alone. They scream, and cry, and threaten me to make me notice them. Some of them seem to have this idea that I can bring them back." He paused. "It just… It doesn't ever _stop _unless I'm drunk out of my mind or high as a kite."

"That's certainly an interesting problem…" Shuri mused. "I _know _you guys didn't call me expecting therapy sessions, so I'm going to approach this purely scientifically. Get started collecting data - DNA, brain activity, the works."

"There's something else," Bruce added once he was done scribbling away.

"Well spill it!" Shuri encouraged. "I can't be of any help unless I know _everything."_

"He saw Pietro," Bruce said.

The line was silent for a moment, before Shuri asked, "He was Wanda's twin, yes?"

"Yes," Bruce confirmed.

"That's interesting," she said approvingly. "That might be able to help us. We'll keep that in mind. Call me back when you get all the tea."

Bruce stood, waving to Klaus to follow him. The boy groaned, but left his seat to follow the doctor up to the med bay.

"Shuri?" Tony asked once they'd left.

"Yes, second-smartest person in the world?"

Tony outwardly rolled his eyes. "Do you think there's anything we could actually do for the kid?"

"I dunno," she answered. "We really don't know much about his abilities - some backstory would be nice. We could probably find some way to suppress his powers without the negative effects of the coping methods he's been relying on, but I'm not sure that that's the best idea."

Tony agreed. Getting rid of the kid's powers didn't seem like the right course of action, and not one they would take unless he seriously wanted them gone. "So we need to find a way for him to control it."

"Yeah. However I don't know how to go about creating any tech pertaining to the supernatural. Unfortunately, I think the change is going to have to come from him."

"Ugh," Tony groaned. "This sounds more like it entails some of Steve's motivational speeches than our intellects."

Shuri laughed.

"So how much has Peter told you?" He asked, ready to fill her in on everything she didn't know already.

"I'm no snitch!" she retorted, offended.

"He's not going to get in trouble! ...Much."

Shuri considered. "Fine. I just got the gist of their powers, but none of the juicy details."

Tony nodded. "Well, they aren't exactly the most _open _about their powers and stories, and we haven't seen them in action, but I'll tell you what we've gathered so far. They call themselves the Umbrella Academy, and they're from another timeline. They were all born under strange circumstances and bought by a man named Reginald. He raised them to be little superheroes - and was a bit of a dick, so I've heard."

"I can't even put into words how cool this is!" It was pretty obvious that she was bouncing in her seat, Tony smirked.

"There's Luther, who's apparently pretty strong. Then there's Diego, who's kinda like Natasha but more emphasis on the knives. And Allison. All we've been told about her is that she's very persuasive; I feel like they're intentionally being a bit secretive about her abilities."

"Maybe they think you'll be afraid of her."

"Possibly," he said. "Then Klaus, who you've already heard about. Five can jump through space and time, and I guess he was the one who brought them here accidentally. If you ask me, he acts like a grumpy old fart. Older than me." He was getting a bit off track here. "Then Ben. The only explanation I've gotten for him is that he is a portal to the monster realm, whatever the hell that means."

"Steve wouldn't like your language."

"Steve can suck my a-" He managed to stop himself before finishing that sentence. As brilliant as Shuri was, she was still a kid and didn't need to hear his vulgar words. "Anyways, apparently the kid was _dead _until they got here."

He waited for her to connect the dots, and knew at her slight gasp that she'd gotten it. "The- Klaus! He could talk to him still! That makes so much sense!"

Tony nodded, continuing. "Exactly. And finally is Vanya, who is the only one of them to not have powers."

Shuri scoffed. "Yeah, sure."

"Excuse me?"

She laughed, clearly at his expense. "Right, like one of them '_doesn't have any powers.'_ She's got a power - I'd bet Bucky's arm on it. And I'll find out what it is, even if it's something dumb like parallel parking."

"They did ask to use the training room today," Tony told her, but instantly knew a mistake.

"And you watched?!"

"No…"

"I can't believe you! Did Friday at least get it on surveillance?"

Tony thought. Well, he had never told his AI to _stop _recording, so probably. "Fri, did you record the kids' training session today?"

"Certainly, boss. The cameras in Training Wing B captured everything."

Shuri clapped excitedly. "That settles it then - I'm flying over ASAP and we're going to have ourselves a little movie night. See ya!" She hung up before he could object.

Well, it was a complete breach of the kids' privacy, but what harm could it do?


	5. Screaming Joe

**Sorry that this is way late, but please enjoy another chapter! I hope you like it! If you do, I'd be ecstatic if you left a review. And I'm really excited about the next chapter :)**

"Can we just roll the dang footage, already?" Shuri pleaded. She did not convince Okoye to fly her all the way to New York (and Mother to allow her to) only for Earth's Mightiest Heroes to be taking their sweet time. Judging by the way his leg was bouncing next to her, Precious Peter felt similarly, though was too nice to voice his opinions.

The same could not be said for her.

"We're waiting on a few more people," Steve said, gesturing to the empty seats around the main conference table.

She groaned. "Come _on! _Tell them to _please _hurry it up! How often do we get to watch superkids?!"

Peter laughed at her impatience.

"They're coming," Steve placated her.

"What are we watching, exactly?" Wanda asked.

"I would like to know the same," Loki agreed. "What was so important that we had to meet in the middle of the night?"

Natasha supplied them with answers to their questions. "The new kids borrowed one of the training rooms earlier and we're going to view the security footage."

"We're spying on them?" Ava asked, raising her brow.

Tony leaned back in his seat. "It does seem like a breach of their privacy, but both Capsicle and Princesa de la Wakanda seem to think that this is a great idea. And seeing as this somehow turned into a dictatorship, we're going along with it." His tone wasn't bitter or malicious - he just sounded exasperated with his colleagues.

"It's a smart idea," Nat explained. "We should know who we're living with."

Shuri had a feeling that she should step in before the Avengers ended up in another 7/11 fistfight, so she spoke, "Tony, I know you have a soft spot for sassy genius kids. Nat and Steve, I know you got the whole distrustful spy thing going on. But seriously - let's just watch!"

Both sides of the argument shut up, to her surprise. Apparently as Official Avengers Consultant she had more sway than she thought.

Finally, Bucky and Sam entered the room. She aimed a glare towards the metal-armed veteran. "Took you guys long enough! I was getting prepared to freeze you again."

Bucky only laughed, giving her a half hug with his flesh arm. "Hey, Shuri," he greeted.

During his time in Wakanda, he had become like an adoptive brother to her. While T'Challa had become too preoccupied with his kingly duties to hang out with her much anymore, her and Bucky had spent long hours in the lab. At first it was just fixing his mind and then crafting him a new arm, but as she learned that he happened to be a bit of a technology nerd himself, their siblinghood blossomed. She'd had much to catch him up on, as the poor man was still fascinated with _flying cars. _She'd gone through a mildly obsessive phase with them when she was eleven and had thus tired of the idea, but she was still all too happy to show her new bro all of her old work.

The late arrivals took their seats, and then all gazes turned expectantly towards the large screen at the front of the room. "All ready?" Steve asked.

Shuri rolled her eyes. As if she hadn't been saying that for the last fifteen minutes.

At everyone's nods, Tony spoke, "Fri, play the tape."

She watched the screen intently, observing everything. They were in the training hall, a big empty training room that tended to be whatever it needed to be. On the flight over, she had studied over the minimal profiles that had been gathered about them, and was thus able to recognize the kids instantly.

Most of them stood on the sidelines while Five and Vanya - the probably-not-so-powerless one - were in the middle. Five had a bag with him. Soon, he was pulling out a violin case.

"They needed the room for violin practice?" Peter asked incredulously.

She shushed him. There was a reason that Peter Parker alliterated with so many terms of innocence. Pure, Precious, Perfect, Polite Peter Parker. He was a great friend and highly intelligent, but some things were lost on him. Of course the room wasn't simply being used for _violin practice. _She watched with an eagle eye for what was coming next.

Curiously, Vanya was skittering away from the instrument. Wait a second - didn't she love the violin? That was literally the _only _thing in her file. But even as she was moving away from it, Shuri could see a hunger in her eyes, clearly directed towards it. Five was talking to her, comforting her about _something. _Out of context, it was hard to decipher.

Eventually the young girl succumbed to her desires and carefully took the instrument. Then a row of glasses was neatly set up between them, and the directions given were to simply "break one of the glasses."

Shuri was leaning forward in her seat, eager to see what was to come. _No powers my ass._

Vanya raised up her instrument, and after a moment began to play. Shuri actively despised most classical music, as it was far too slow for her liking and all sounded the same. While holed up in her lab and working away for hours on end, she preferred stuff that was much more upbeat. However as the girl played, Shuri's jaw dropped. That did _not _sound like the _Hot Cross Buns _she had expected. It sounded so beautiful and powerful in a way that could only be achieved through years - decades, maybe - of mastery. This did not sound like the playing of a child.

Then something crazy happened. Far crazier than a bunch of superpowered kids watching their sister give a surprisingly beautiful violin concert. Vanya's eyes flashed _white, _and Shuri might've looked around the room the confirm that everyone else had seen it too had her eyes not been glued to what was happening on the screen.

The middle glass shattered, splintering into a bunch of little pieces.

"Holy shit," she breathed. Peter owed her twenty bucks.

"Holy shit, indeed," Clint repeated.

Tony gestured for them to shut up and keep watching. Even Cap was too invested in the footage to call them out on their language.

The siblings bore expressions ranging from stunned to excited, meaning that this power was a new one and not one that had been mastered yet.

The violin was raised up again, and it looked like she was about to reproduce the feat. Everyone watched with bated breath.

It started off the same, with her playing a melody and building it up. However after a few notes something was off. Her eyes flashed white, but this time stayed that way. The camera started to tremble, as if there were an earthquake. The room gradually shook harder and harder, until Five was yelling his sister's name out at her.

She snapped out of it, her eyes losing the white color they had gained, but as she did waves of light exploded from her, shattering the glasses and sending her brother flying. Pepper gasped from her seat.

The scene continued with Vanya sobbing, clearly aghast at what she had just done. Shuri's heart went out to the younger girl as her brother picked himself up off the ground, thankfully appearing to be unharmed, and going to comfort her with the rest of the siblings. Then they packed up and left, and Friday's voice cut in to inform them that that was all of the time they had spent in the training room.

Rhodey was the first to break the silence. "Okay, so Vanya has powers."

"Pretty powerful ones, too," Sam nodded.

Peter slid a twenty to Shuri under the table.

Loki stated, "She broke the wall." He seemed more impressed than concerned.

"And nearly her brother," Natasha pointed out.

Steve looked to Wanda. "They looked a bit like yours, didn't they?"

Wanda shook her head in disagreement. "No - hers are different. I use magic, while she seemed to use waves of some sort."

"We need to start studying this," Shuri said excitedly. "Right away."

"Do you think it was… wind?" Peter asked. "Air waves?"

Bruce shrugged. "It looked more seismic to me. When she lost control it almost seemed like an earthquake."

"Here's an idea, science nerds," Sam rolled his eyes. "What about asking them?"

"I don't think that they want us to know, or that they would take too kindly to the fact that we are spying on them," Steve explained.

Bucky nodded. "Maybe they think we'll be afraid of her."

Tony snorted. "As if we aren't already living with a big green rage monster, several former assassins, a god who tried to enslave Earth…"

"_One _time," Loki objected.

"Oh, right," Tony defended. "The other time you just tried to destroy it."

"And you created a homicidal murder robot that nearly destroyed the world," Loki smirked. "But that was only once, right?"

Tony frowned. "Okay, who told him about that?"

"Thor may have given me a summary of the happenings on Earth after I left," Loki grinned cheekily.

"_Guys," _Steve sighed. "We shouldn't tell the kids that we know about Vanya's powers, okay? They're clearly worried about how we'll react, and they'll tell us when they're ready."

Natasha looked at Steve, nodding. "The Umbrella Academy has secrets, but so does everyone. If we crash landed in a different universe, we wouldn't be one hundred percent truthful, either."

There was no arguing with that, so Tony clapped his hands together. "Well alright, then. Don't tell them that we know, and don't treat Vanya any differently. I'm going back down to the lab - you all can do whatever it is you do with your nights."

Pepper rolled her eyes. "You mean sleep?"

"Yeah, that," Tony hummed. "Waste of time if you ask me. 'Night." He kissed his fiancee on the cheek as he left.

"You headed home now?" Steve turned to Shuri.

She sighed. "Unfortunately, my mother is planning a fancy dinner party tomorrow evening with some important members of the UN, and she'll have my head if I'm not attending. But I'll be back in a few days."

Steve nodded. "We'll keep you updated."

"You'd better."

Bucky laughed, standing. "I'll walk you to the jet landing."

She grinned, following him out. "Your life has certainly been interesting since you left Wakanda. Sure you don't want to return to your goats?"

"As relaxing as that sounds," he told her, "I'm planning on sticking with the team. Nat always talks about how she wiped the red from her ledger, and now it's my turn."

"Your situations were very different, but I like the nobility." She only wished that he could see that the seventy years of brainwashing weren't his fault in the slightest. But if the dude wanted to do some good with his life, then she wouldn't stop him. "Still, that one goat of yours - the asshole one - has been bleating and crying ever since you left, annoying everyone in a two mile radius! I am _this _close to shipping him to the compound!"

Bucky laughed. "Not sure Stark the person would be too happy about Stark the goat living in his expensive mansion, but it does sound pretty hilarious."

They arrived at the jet landing too soon, and she turned to her adoptive brother to give him a hug. "I miss having you lurking around my lab all day."

"I do too," he admitted. "Tell Stark the goat that I'll come visit sometime soon."

"He'll be happy to hear it," she grinned. "So will mother. See you in a few days, _ubhuti."_

"Have a safe flight," Bucky said.

Okoye appeared behind them, holding an iced latte.

"Okoye!" Shuri cackled. "Neglecting your guardly duties for Starbucks?! What would mother say?"

"Oh, shut it, princess. You were in a room with all of the Avengers! And as you've demonstrated on T'Challa on multiple occasions, you can be pretty scrappy. I can slip away for five minutes to get some coffee." Okoye stepped around them, walking up the ramp. "Now are you coming?"

She followed her into the jet, the ramp shutting on the Avengers facility behind them.

* * *

"Luther," Allison gasped, as he led her by the hand into a room she hadn't seen before. He shut the door behind them and flipped a switch, causing strings of lights to illuminate a luxurious blanket fort. It was far more elaborate than the one they had made as kids, but still had the same, homey feel. "What-" she spun to look at him. "What is this?"

He shrugged. "I just thought we should spend some time together. Alone."

She moved to sit among the abundant pile of pillows. "You did all this?" she asked softly.

He tossed her a soda, and she caught it. "Hopefully these will taste better than last time. And yeah, I did."

She smiled. "Thank you. I think it's exactly what I need right now."

He took a seat next to her, popping the top of his drink and tasting it. Thankfully it was not a decade past the expiration date.

She sighed loudly, falling back so she was laying down.

"How are you holding up?" He asked tentatively, afraid of touching on painful subjects.

"Getting by," she whispered. "I miss her."

He looked down at his soda. "I know. I'm sorry."

"She's dead. Everyone from our world is dead. And I'm trying to act like they're not - for Vanya's sake - but it's so hard when I know that my daughter…" she broke off with a sob.

"Hey, hey," he leaned back next to her, putting his arm around her. "Maybe not. Maybe something changed when we left."

"Then she's alone," Allison answered, shaking her head. "I'm not there."

"She's not alone," Luther replied, running a hand through her hair. "I know that you and Patrick had your issues, but he loves that little girl maybe as much as you do. As horrible as not having you in her life would be, she still has her father."

Allison nodded. "You're right. I just wish that I knew what happened in our world."

"Me too. Maybe Five can figure it out somehow. We can ask."

Allison rolled her eyes. "And he'll give us some snarky answer, I'm sure."

"That would be Five alright," Luther agreed.

They sat in silence for a few moments, just relaxing in each others' company. Allison drank from her soda, gingerly touching her throat. When they had been dropped into this new world, one of the first things she'd been excited to learn was that in her younger body, her vocal cords were intact and fully functional.

She glanced sideways at the boy - man - next to her. He'd made mistakes for sure, but so had she. For now she was just grateful to have him.

Their eyes met, and it appeared he was having similar thoughts, as he started leaning towards her. His hand raised to cup her cheek, and she startled back to reality when his face was only an inch from hers.

"Woah! Luther, jesus!" She sat up quickly. "What are you doing? You know that we're not _actually _thirteen year old kids playing blanket fort with our crushes, right?!"

He sat up after her, looking like a kicked puppy. "I thought you still had feelings for me? I thought we-"

"I do," she interrupted. "I did. But you treat all of us like we're below you, and I can't stand by you while you do."

"I don't know what you're-"

"I was just crying about my dead daughter, Luther," she hissed. "Because she probably is dead. And I don't blame Vanya. I blame all of us, who were horrible siblings to her all our lives. And then she came to us, and we had _one _more chance to not be shitty to her. So you took that chance and used it to betray her trust and lock her away. None of us wanted to do that to her, but since you were the _leader -_ since you were _Number One - _we ended up pushing Vanya to doing what she did. I blame you."

She stood, not sparing another look at him as she left the room.

* * *

Klaus was walking down one of the many hallways, entirely lost in his own mind. At first, getting stuck in an alternate universe was one of the coolest things that had ever happened to him. Now, a few days later, he found that it was _boring as hell. _He'd done nothing since he got here. And he wasn't even high. Or drunk. There was a cabinet in the kitchen that housed all kinds of alcohol, he'd discovered whilst snooping the other night. However Five would have his head if he found out.

Not only that, but he didn't actually _need _to be wasted at the moment. He'd seen plenty of ghosts, but mostly he just ignored them. None of the ghosts in this new world, except for Pietro once, he'd had any form of interaction with. It seemed that they didn't know that he could see them, so they left him alone.

To break his spell of boredom, he'd decided to go in search of a certain God of Mischief. Ben had talked his ear off about Norse mythology after they first met the Avengers, and if this Loki dude was who Ben claimed then he was absolutely someone Klaus needed to spend some time with.

"Shit, sorry," he looked up in time to narrowly miss running into someone.

The someone froze in their tracks, gaping at him.

_Weirdo, _Klaus thought, taking in the strange man. He was tall, and scruffy. And dirty. Klaus' eyes found the man's face, and with horror noticed the slit in the man's throat. The two made eye contact.

The ghost man started screaming.

Klaus passed him, walking hurriedly down the rest of the hallway and darting into a room. He knew however that his attempts were futile, as the screaming man followed him. Running never worked.

"Klaus," a woman's voice broke through the screaming. "Klaus, are you okay?"

He looked over, noticing Wanda. "Oh, hey. Yeah, yeah I'm all good. What's up with you?"

The man next to her, Sam, also looked concerned. "You sure you're alright, man? You look freaked."

He waved him off. "Fine - just some personal stuff. Actually, Wanda, I've been meaning to talk to you."

"What about?" she asked.

He flopped himself down on a recliner across from the two. The man followed him. He used to be pretty good at blocking out the screaming so he could have a conversation, but after several days of silence he was having a hard time. "What would it mean if you went into my head?" he asked.

Her eyes widened, and she answered hurriedly, "I could just go in quickly - to see Pietro. Anything you don't want me to see, I won't."

"You're sure?" he asked, just to be sure.

"Absolutely. I won't look at anything else."

Klaus smiled. "If you find me some _herbal healing_, if you know what I'm talking about, then I'll meet you on the roof in twenty minutes."

She furrowed her brow, but answered, "Fine. Just this once."

"Deal," Klaus stood, moving over to offer her his hand. "But you can not tell _any _of my siblings - kapeesh?"

Her eyes met his as she shook his hand. "Deal."

* * *

"Mr. Stark," Peter said, startling Tony, who happened to be tinkering with something rather delicate.

Tony, looking at the wire he'd just bent, sighed. "Tony, kid. I thought you started calling me Tony when you came back from the snap?"

"The blip, you mean," Peter corrected, causing Tony to roll his eyes. "Right, I forgot. Sorry, Tony."

Tony shook his head at the kid, ruffling his hair good-naturedly. "You need something, Spider-boy?"

"I would come up with a good reply to that, but I actually _do _need something." Peter slid a piece of paper across the desk to his mentor. He'd learned not to hand Tony things the hard way, many times. "So my school's decathlon team is putting together this trip to Europe to reunite the team before we all go back to school, and I need the permission slip signed… And maybe like a little money to pay for the trip, but I'll totally pay you back Mr.- Tony." Peter talked quickly. He didn't know why he got so nervous about asking for such things from the billionaire.

Maybe because these things were more fatherly duties than mentorship ones.

"Spidey-kid, chill," Tony commanded. "You don't need to pay me back. You deserve a little vacation from saving the world."

Peter grinned. "Thank you so much, Tony."

"You do know I'm rich, right?" Tony asked, already signing the forms.

"It's hard to forget, actually."

"And yet you get all sheepish asking me for, what, two thousand bucks?" Tony asked.

"Seven hundred, actually."

"Pennies, kid. That's pennies. I'd buy you Netflix if you asked."

"Which is why I'm _not _asking."

* * *

Klaus sat cross-legged on the roof, waiting for Wanda to show up. He had found Pietro (by screaming his name really loudly, at which point Pietro the friendly ghost just appeared).

Wanda, Klaus found out as she touched down on the roof and strode casually towards him, can _fly. _

"That was cool," he commented. "Wish I could do that. Gives whole new meaning to the term, 'getting high.' Speaking of, did you get me my goodies?"

She tossed him a little bag of pot, not nearly enough but he figured as much.

"Are you sure that you're okay with me in your head?" she asked once again, sitting across from him in the same manner.

"Yep. And oh, oop- You're kinda sitting on your brother."

She awkwardly shuffled to the side, so the three of them were in a triangle.

"Okay," he said. "Just to warn you, in the corner over there is a guy screaming his head off. He's annoying but harmless."

She faltered at his warning, but nodded. "Good to know." She raised her hand, placing it by his head and with a flick of her fingers, red energy flooded his vision.

Wanda entered Klaus' head smoothly, but nearly jumped back out from shock. This was not the type of mind she had expected to see from a thirteen year old boy. First, was the screaming. One voice - a man's - was shrieking his head off with long, constant wails. Was that what the not-so-friendly spirits were like? The next shocks were the feelings of overwhelming pain, trauma, and loss that smacked her in the face, wrapping around her until she felt like she was drowning.

She pushed past these things, going to his eyes. She used his vision to see, to her delight, her twin brother sitting with them.

"Pietro," she whispered, using the hand not channeling through Klaus to stifle a gasp. "You- you're here."

"I've been here, printessa. I haven't left you."

"I'm so sorry, Piet. I should've been there - I should've protected you."

He smiled at her, and it felt so much like home that it hurt. She was crying freely now, but she didn't care.

"It is not your fault. I love you so much, and I'm so proud of you. Look how powerful you've become!"

She smiled. He had always been supportive of her abilities, even when she was unsure. "I just wish that you were here. Like really, actually here."

He nodded. "I wish so, too."

The two talked for a while, and Klaus remained silent, giving them their reunion. This was the second time in a span of several days where he'd used his powers for something _good. _Never in his life did he imagine that his cursed gift would actually be used to help. He'd always hated his abilities, but for a moment he allowed himself to enjoy helping Wanda see her long lost sibling. Was this how his siblings felt whenever they used their powers to help people? Sure, Klaus had gone on many missions and saved countless people with the Umbrella Academy, but his abilities hadn't really been helpful in that.

The twins must have talked for an hour, but Klaus just listened intently. Their deep, heartfelt conversations mixed with jabs and humor drowned out the still-screaming man in the corner.

"I think- I think we'd better go," Wanda said finally. "I don't want to overstay my welcome," she looked at Klaus.

"Well," _Five would kill him. _"Maybe we could do this again sometime?" _Five would rip him limb from limb. _"Maybe just every once in a while the two of you can catch up?"

Wanda's face brightened exponentially. "I would love that. Thank you, Klaus. Thank you so much."

The twins said their goodbyes, and Wanda retreated out of Klaus' mind.

However, her skills with navigating the mind were rarely practiced, and as she was exiting, she brushed too close to a memory. She was thrown into the middle of a battle, and she was leaning over someone. Gunshots fell like rain all around. She was screaming. "Dave! Dave! Medic!" But this Dave person wasn't opening their eyes…

With a shove she ripped herself from seeing any further, remembering her promise to the boy. When she was out he flashed her a smile, and she didn't have any reason to believe that he knew what she'd seen. She returned the smile.

She took his hand in both of hers. "Really, thank you."

"No problem. I really didn't do all that much…"

"But it means the world to me."

* * *

Luther stood in the middle of a huge gym, in awe of all of the expensive equipment. After his failed moment with Allison, he'd decided that he needed to let off some steam. A quick consultation with the robot in the wall confirmed that the Avengers did have a fairly large gym in the main building, and that he was welcome to use it at any time.

He walked over to a punching bag, noticing with a smirk that there were a dozen new ones lined against the wall. Evidently he was not the only one here with super strength. He didn't bother wrapping his fists, not that he had anything to wrap them with, and starting punching away.

His fists flew one after the other, the bag swinging away from him and not even having a chance to swing back. A hole ripped in the bag, some of the stuffing falling out. Too soon, the strap broke and the bag went flying across the room.

Someone behind him whistled. "Damn, kid. You really are strong."

He shrugged. "Yeah. Captain America, right?"

"Steve," the man offered, holding out a hand. "Luther, yes?"

Luther nodded.

"Want to spar a bit?" Steve asked.

It had been a long, _long _time since he'd had a sparring partner. After his siblings left the Academy, he kept up with his training, but never had anyone else. He might hurt anyone other than his carefully training siblings.

"Let's do it," he answered. Steve led him to the middle of the room, where there was an open space and the floor was covered in mats.

"You guys spar much back at home?" Steve asked.

"We used to," he left his response vague in a way Five would be proud of. "Haven't in a while."

Steve and him stood across from each other, and wordlessly they began. Luther bent forward, running his shoulder into Steve, who lost his balance for just a second before sidestepping and sending Luther's momentum hurtling off the mats. He was back before Steve could blink, and the two kept going at it.

Occasionally Steve would knock Luther down, and twice Luther's strength managed to surprise him. There was no clear end, just messing around and landing a non-lethal punch here or there until both heroes eventually got tired.

"Tired yet, kid?" Steve asked. He didn't miss the way Luther bristled at the nickname, making a mental note not to talk down to him. He seemed to have a problem with that.

"I could do this all day," Luther responded, though he did sound a bit breathless.

Steve gestured to his bloodied and bruised fists. "Yeah, but I think we should at least take a break to clean those out."

Luther nodded, agreeing.

"I can give you some wraps for your hands for next time," Steve offered. He liked this Luther kid.

"Next time?" Luther asked.

"Well, if you want to go again sometime," Steve said. "If you want, I could train you a bit."

Luther reeled back a bit. _Train him?_ He knew that Steve thought he was just some wannabe superhero kid rather than an adult who'd spent his whole life training and fighting, but the offer still ruffled him a bit. "Training?"

Steve, having pulled two waters out of a fridge, tossed him one. He stepped closer to the kid, looking him in the eye. "You have a hard time not being in charge, don't you? You like leading?"

Luther gulped. His new friend seemed to be looking straight through him. "I was Number One," he admitted.

Steve's brow furrowed. "Who called you that?"

"Our father. He made me the leader of the Umbrella Academy," he found himself telling. It bugged him that everyone thought Five was in charge, even though he knew it was proving Allison's point. But he'd spent his entire life being their leader, and he took pride in it.

Steve sighed, looking down. "I've led many soldiers into many battles. Not that I think you don't know how to lead, but just from what I've observed, you should hear this: Every member of your team is giving their all and putting their lives on the line for the cause, just as you are. It's important to remember that you're only calling the shots because of circumstance - not superiority."

Luther nodded, thinking. "I've just always been Number One. And I always thought that I deserved it, but…"

"Being leader isn't for everyone," Steve said. "I would've gladly passed along the job if I could've. If you've been doing it your whole life, then maybe step down and let someone else take the opportunity? In the long run, not being 'the best' is much better than struggling to lead a team who doesn't believe in you."

Luther nodded, silent.

"You seem like a cool kid. I hope I'm not scaring you off with all my speeches - I don't try to be so in-charge all the time," Steve smiled, clapping him on the shoulder.

"You can't help it," Luther dismissed. "You're just a natural leader, huh?"

Steve shrugged, leaving him to draw his own inferences. "I'll see you around, yeah?"

Luther nodded. "I don't plan on going anywhere." _As far as I know, ever. Should probably ask Five if he's figured anything out._

Steve flashed him a grin before turning and leaving Luther to his thoughts.

* * *

Klaus was sitting in the main living room along with Ben and a handful of the Avengers (Loki, Tony, Peter, Natasha, and Clint). The group was watching some show about supernatural beings, but Klaus was finding it increasingly hard to focus on the giant television due to there now being a second ghost following him around. And if another one found him, then word was out in the ghost realm.

This ghost was even meaner than the other one, who he'd begun to affectionately call Screaming Joe. Screaming Joe never made any actual words, just stood a few feet away and wailed long, horrible screams. When Klaus was alone, the entity moved to about a foot away from him and screamed in his face, but mostly Screaming Joe was just highly annoying.

This new ghost, an older woman, was nasty, getting right up in his face and yelling at him, begging to be saved. The ghosts seemed unable to comprehend that he could hear and see them, but he couldn't really do anything about their current situation.

Both ghosts were louder than the tv, giving him a splitting headache. The old woman was directly in front of him, blocking his view. Her face was mutilated, and she was probably one of the most horrifying to look at spirits he'd ever encountered. Unfortunately, the pot he'd gained from his deal with Wanda had only lasted him a small portion of the day.

"KLAUS! KLAUS! _SAVE ME! _I'M ALONE! BRING ME BACK! KLAUS! KLAUSSSSS!" She repeated the exclamations as if they were her mantra.

He couldn't take it anymore. He plugged his ears, but her screams were louder. He squeezed his eyes shut, but her face was still there. "Shut up!" he screamed back at her. "Go the _fuck _away!"

He rolled himself into a ball on the couch, pleading with the ghosts to leave him alone.

Tony's eyes snapped over to Klaus as he suddenly shouted, as did everyone else in the room. The kid was now a mess, curled in on himself and begging to be left alone. Tony looked to his brother. "What's wrong with him? What's happening?"

Ben shook his head, shouting, "Klaus!" When that didn't bring the other boy out of his state, he grabbed his shoulder and gave him a shake. His eyes opened, but quickly shut again. "Klaus! You have to listen to me, okay? Try to block them out. How many are there?"

"T-two," Klaus stuttered.

"Okay, that's good. Remember how one time you got rid of me for a week after I pissed you off? Do you think you can send one of them away like that?"

Klaus nodded.

"Okay, focus. Send one away."

Klaus did, using as much of his powers over the afterlife as he could to fling the nasty old woman into what he hoped was the deepest pits of Hell. She didn't go easy, kicking and screaming the whole time, but he managed to get rid of her.

"Got one," he said, slowly sitting up. "That was the worst ghost _ever. _I'd rather have ten thousand Screaming Joes following me around for the rest of my life than deal with her ugly mug for another second."

"Screaming Joe?" Ben asked.

"Over there," Klaus gestured to a random spot a few feet behind the couch.

Ben nodded, even though he couldn't see the ghosts with Klaus anymore. He was beyond thankful for being brought back to the land of the living, but now he was less able to help his brother with the bad spirits. When he was a ghost himself, sometimes he was able to chase off the worst of them.

"That- Those were ghosts?" Tony asked. "In my compound?"

Klaus snorted, seemingly resumed normal after his ordeal. Only Ben could tell that he was still trembling. "They're kinda everywhere."

Loki even looked the slightest bit concerned. "Are you alright now, child?"

"Yeah, I'm good," Klaus answered.

"Liar," Ben whispered.

"Drop dead," Klaus bit back under his breath.

"So what, you just… poofed it away?" Tony asked, intrigued.

He shrugged. "I don't know. I did it to Ben once. He ended up so far away that it took him a week to find me again."

"Why don't you do that to all the ghosts then?" Clint asked.

Natasha punched him in the arm.

"What? It's a valid question!" Clint defended.

"Well, it's kind of a lot of work, so it really only works on one at a time. Second, I'm not exactly sure _how _I do it." Klaus explained.

Peter nodded. "Not exactly a handbook on how to yeet away the dead, is there?"

Ben, being somewhat caught up on meme culture, cracked a smile. Klaus however, just looked confused. "Why would I eat the ghost?"

Peter faltered. "N-no. Yeet."

"Eat," Klaus repeated.

Peter facepalmed. "You guys need to hang with Ned, MJ, and Shuri. I've failed you."


	6. Bullet Rain

**Lots of action in this one! Let me know what you think!**

As the kids were still a relatively new fixture in the compound, and Pepper had the free time to cook, large family meals were still a thing for the time being. Of course, none of the Avengers or the Academy were complaining about this arrangement, because Pepper's cooking was _awesome._

They were seating around the table the next morning, eating breakfast fit for royalty, when suddenly an alarm blared.

The sound was unbearably loud, causing everyone in the room to jump. Vanya quickly clapped her hands over her ears.

"Friday," Tony barked over the alarm. "What on Earth is that?!"

"Mission alert, boss." The AI informed.

"Jesus Christ, Fri," Tony grimaced once the alarm was disabled. "You can just lead with that, you know. No need for the heart attack."

"Sorry, boss. Noted." Friday almost sounded apologetic. "Mission alert sent by Nick Fury. Would you like me to read the message?"

"Good old Nick, really knows how to ruin a breakfast. Go ahead, Fri," Tony said. The Avengers waited curiously - aside from Clint, none of them had really interacted with Fury recently, or the fraction of SHIELD that was still operating. In fact, it had been mostly forgotten that Fury _could _send mission alerts.

"The message says: 'Anonymous reports of stolen Stark Tech. Large base, heavily guarded. Heavily armed. Take caution.' He also sent some coordinates," Friday relayed.

Tony sighed, and Steve stood. "Avengers, get ready. This is our first mission since Thanos, so all of us will be going. Be on the jet in fifteen minutes."

"I'm retired," Tony said, sipping his coffee.

"It's _your _tech," Steve said. "We may need you. All you have to do is stay on the jet."

Tony groaned. "Fine. Friday, plug those coordinates into the jet."

"Bruce," Nat said. "Stay and watch the kids."

Bruce saluted.

Peter sagged in his seat, obviously thinking he was lobbed into that category.

"Not you, Pete," Tony rolled his eyes. "You're an Avenger; you're coming."

Peter beamed, jumping up to go get ready.

"We could help," Diego offered. "We have a lot of experience with this kind of stuff."

"Sorry," Clint shrugged, as he was one of the last to file out of the room. "We're not taking a bunch of kids on a mission."

"Peter's a kid," Klaus pointed out.

"He's a stowaway," Tony coughed. "You guys get to stay here and enjoy your little vacation from crime-fighting. Maybe some other time."

"We can help!" Luther argued.

"Chill, Luther," Five snapped. It wouldn't do any good to argue with these Avengers, and they were right in not wanting to take some wild card kids with them on an actual mission. "We're not the only heroes in this world - I think they can handle it just fine on their own." He stood, stretching. "I'm going back to my equations." That was all he'd been doing for the past few days, going over equation after equation in their shared room, trying to figure out where they were in relation to their own world. Unfortunately, there were too many unknown variables and he was getting nowhere.

After the Avengers, minus Bruce, left, the Umbrella Academy filed out of the dining room as well. Five went to work on his equations, Ben and Klaus went to listen to some loud music in hopes of drowning out Screaming Joe, Allison and Diego went to go play a game of chess, and Luther went who knows where.

Just Bruce and Vanya were left, and she fiddled with her hands.

"You have any plans for today?" He asked her gently.

"Nope," she shook her head. "You?" Ever since the apocalypse, she'd been shutting in on herself, spending most of her time in their shared room with Five while he did equations. Allison had begged her multiple times to come out, but truthfully, she was scared. She was scared of hurting someone, or triggering another apocalypse, or of everyone discovering the truth and locking her away or _worse…_

"Well, do you want to hang out in the lab for a little bit?" He offered. Nothing but kindness was in his eyes, and she sensed nothing but pure intentions from him.

She smiled. "Sure."

* * *

The Avengers prepared in the jet as it sailed across the skies to some obscure location in Romania. Bucky reached in his trunk, pulling out a rifle and checking it over.

"You know, Buck," Steve said, watching him. "You don't have to do this. You don't have to fight."

Bucky raised one brow, eyeing his friend. "Did Shuri put you up to this? You want me to go back to goat farming, too?"

"No," Steve said. "This is from me. I just want you to know that you don't owe anything to the world, Buck. Got it?"

Bucky nodded, going back to checking his gear. "Yeah, Stevie. I got it; you can save the speech."

Steve gave him a disbelieving look.

Bucky sighed. "Look, Steve. I know that the Winter Soldier wasn't me. But he put a lot of bad in the world still, and you're not the only one with a self-sacrificing nobility complex, okay?"

Steve snorted. "So you admit that you have dumbass disease as well?"

Bucky laughed. "You still remember that, huh? I guess I do." A long time ago, before the super-serums and before fighting in the war, Bucky used to attribute Steve's frequent tendency to pick fights with people thrice his size to his Dumbass Disease. Apparently it was contagious.

"Well, my dumbass disease and I are with you 'til the end of the line," Steve said, pulling Bucky in for a hug.

"'Til the end of the line," Bucky echoed.

"Hey, freeze pops," Rhodey beckoned them over to where the group was congregating. "Fury was finally kind enough to send us more information on our task at hand. Apparently SHIELD received an anonymous tip a few days back reporting stolen Stark technology, mostly large-scale weapons along with several suits, being manufactured at this location. A few of SHIELD's best agents were sent to investigate, but didn't return. They were able to report the general layout of the building, so we have a blueprint here." He placed a blue paper on the table in front of them.

Steve, who usually made the game plan, gestured to Nat. He gave some solid advice to Luther yesterday, and felt the need to practice what he preached.

Nat took charge immediately, like she had after the snap (or the blip, as Peter and his friends called it). "Alright, so it looks like there are holding cells on the third floor. Peter and Ava, you two will be in charge of stealthily infiltrating the east wing of the building and getting the agents out, assuming they're still alive. Deal with any guards swiftly and efficiently, and don't trip any alarms. You're in and out quick. Bucky and Loki will take the main entrance. Do what you have to to get into the office quarters, and figure out what these guys are up to. Wanda, you'll go in the west wing. Your job is to basically mess shit up. Go in a little before everyone else so that most of the guards will be running your way, okay? Sam will cover you. We'll be back on the jet in case anything goes south, but I think that you guys should be fine. Keep your comms on," she reminded. She got a little smirk on her face, saying, "Avengers… Assemble!"

* * *

Vanya sat in Bruce's lab, watching him work. He'd given her a simplified explanation of what he was experimenting with: the effect of gamma radiation on vibranium molecules. She had very little idea of what that meant, but nodded along anyways.

"You play the violin, right?" he asked. "How long have you played?"

"All my life," she answered. "My siblings were- are the special ones, so I found my own thing."

Bruce nodded. "I love the violin, though I've never played. I'm not sure how much you know about the Hulk, but the green guy and I used to have real issues. I used to listen to a lot of classical music to cope with stress, and really developed an appreciation for it."

She smiled. So he wasn't just being nice - he actually had some investment in this conversation. "Who's your favorite violinist?"

"I've had many favorites over the years, but now I think my favorite has to be Lindsey Stirling. I just love her style." He answered.

"I love her, too!" Vanya grinned at him.

He glanced up from his notes to meet her smile. "Do you draw any inspiration from her when you're playing?"

She nodded. "And Julia Fischer, among others."

"What's your favorite piece to play?"

"This one piece that my band used to play - at school," she caught herself before revealing that she was in a professional classical band. "Arranged by Jeff Russo. The whole song is wrapped around a solo violinist, and you just get to play your heart out."

He nodded. "You were the solo violinist?"

She paused. "Yes," she answered simply. She was, because she was first chair. Because Leonard Peabody or Harold Jenkins or whoever the hell he was murdered Helen, who should've been playing that solo. That answer had been automatic - she loved that piece. But now, thinking, she wasn't sure she could ever play it again.

"I'd love to hear you play sometime," he commented.

She 'hummed noncommittally. If he sensed any hesitation in her response, he didn't say anything. She found herself liking Bruce. He was gentle and soft-spoken, but still witty and sarcastic. He was someone she could easily be friends with, so long as he was fine with finding companionship in a thirteen year old girl.

It was just one of the many, many lies she was telling.

The same alarm as this morning blared, and she threw her hands over her ears.

"Dammit," Bruce cursed. "I thought Tony disabled that. Friday, what's going on now?"

"Sorry to bother you, Dr. Banner. There are multiple intruder alerts in the compound." Friday answered, shutting off the blaring alarm.

Bruce's eyes widened, and he stood. "How many?"

Friday paused for a moment, answering, "Twenty four. It seems Mr. Klaus has knocked one of the agents out with a frying pan."

Vanya's breathing quickened, and she nearly jumped out of her skin when Five jumped next to her.

"You both okay here?" he asked, eyes darting over her wildly.

"Yes, Five," she answered. "What's going on?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. Alarms. Intruders. Stay here." After his cropped explanation, he jumped away.

"Friday, where's Pepper? Is she safe?" Bruce asked the AI.

Friday spoke again, "Ms. Potts is in her personal quarters. The entire room is on lockdown - nothing could get in there short of nuclear strike."

"Well let's just hope it doesn't come to that," Bruce mumbled. He turned to Vanya. "Hey, don't worry. I'm going to go up there and I've got a green friend who can get rid of these guys before they can hurt you or your siblings." He pretended not to notice the light fixture that started swinging side to side.

Vanya nodded. "That's a good backup plan, but I think they have things covered for now." She looked up at the ceiling, still unused to addressing the robot lady. "Um, Friday?"

"Yes, Ms. Vanya?"

"Could you show me all of the security cameras in the tower, um maybe on this screen right here?" she turned to a large screen in the wall. "And patch me into the speaker systems, please?"

"Of course, Ms. Vanya," the AI accepted the request. Vanya watched as multiple images filled the screen, and pulled up a chair. She could keep watch over the fight, just as she used to with Reginald.

Ben came skidding into the lab, out of breath. "You guys good?" At her nod, he relaxed a bit. "I'm going to wait in here with you both, just in case someone makes it down here.

She nodded again.

"Hey, can you guys hear me?" she said aloud.

"Vanya?" Diego's voice came from the speaker, and she watched him spin in confusion on the living room cameras.

"Yeah, I'm in the speakers. Five more guys headed down your way." She informed them.

"Got it," Allison got in fighting position. "Thanks, Van."

* * *

On Nat's word, Peter watched Ava silently take out the two guards standing at the entrance to the east wing. Not for the first time, he admired the stealth operative in action. Since the Pym Particles, she no longer felt pain from her affliction and was able to fully utilize her abilities at will. She waved him in, and he dropped from where he was perched to swing into the building.

"_Spider-Ghost, how's it going?" _Tony's voice came through the comms.

"Took out the guards - first hallway looks clear." He reported.

Ava strode purposefully forwards, turning down another hallway. Peter was happy that she paid better attention to the blueprints than he did.

They turned down a few more hallways, and found a locked room. "This looks like it," Peter spoke. "But how can we be sure?"

Ava didn't speak, just phased right through the wall, emerging a second later. "This is the right place. Four hostage agents. Two of them are unconscious."

Peter stepped over to the locking mechanism, shooting inactive taser webs inside and out. "Alright, Karen," he stepped back. "Light 'em up."

The webs activated, effectively frying the mechanism. He smirked to himself as Ava ripped the door wide open. They both hurried in and started untying the agents.

While Peter was untying a particularly tricky knot - he couldn't tell if the person who'd tied it was really good at tying knots or really horrible - his spidey sense went off. He spun around, and gasped. "Hey, wai-"

"Ah!" Ava gasped as a bullet pierced through her leg.

Before the guy could cause any more damage, Peter yanked his gun away with a web and strung the guy up. He moved back to Ava's side. "Shit, shit," he cursed. "That looks bad."

She looked up at him, her face pained. "It _is _bad, Spidey."

He panicked, racking his brains. "Why didn't you phase?!"

"Would've hit one of the hostages," she clenched her jaw.

"_Hey, Spider-Ghost?" _Steve's voice floated over the comms. "_What's going on over there? That doesn't sound good."_

"I've been shot," Ava bit out. "Just my leg, but it puts a bit of a damper on our plans."

There was a hesitation on the other end, before Steve's voice came back. "_Can the hostages get out on their own?_"

"Two of them are unconscious," Peter stated. "And the other two say they can walk but they're hurt pretty bad."

Tony's voice took over, telling them, "_Okay, Spider-Ghost. Help is on the way."_

Peter nodded, putting pressure on Ava's wound. One of the hostage agents got up, limping over to where they were on the ground. "I got this," she said, taking over medic duty.

Ava nodded. "Someone needs to watch the door."

Peter got up and made his way to the room's only entrance, praying that no one else would find their way over here until their help arrived. He could take a few agents at once, but too many and they'd all be screwed.

"What _is _this stuff?" A voice came from above, effectively scaring the cheese and crackers out of Peter.

"Webs," he said, realizing that it was the guy he'd just strung up to the ceiling. He'd kinda forgot about that guy.

"Did it come… out of you?" The guy looked thoroughly confused.

"You get no answers," Peter crossed his arms as he stood guard. "You're a bad guy - you shot my friend."

"_Spider-man!" _Ava barked at him. "If you could _please _stop conversing with the enemy…"

"Sorry, sorry," Peter remembered. He was still working on the whole not-talking-while-fighting.

Loki and Bucky came sprinting down the hall, entering the room. "What happened to your mission?" Peter asked.

"Clint and Nat are taking that one over. We already got most of the guards there, anyways." Bucky answered.

"_Okay. Spider-Ghost, Sargeant God, you ready?" _Steve asked.

"Ready," Peter, answered. The others echoed.

"_Spider-man, start bringing out the hostages who can't make it themselves. That should be three trips total, including Ava. Get them all the way to the jet. Bucky, you'll escort the hostages who are awake - take both at once. Loki, you'll guard the room until everyone's out." _Steve instructed.

Peter bent over Ava, picking her up bridal style.

"No, no," she objected. "Take the others first."

Peter shook his head. His choice was defended by Bucky, who explained, "He's right, doll. We can't have you bleeding out."

She grumbled, but allowed herself to be taken first. Once in the hallway, where the ceilings were much higher, Peter jumped into the air and swung them out, since it was faster than walking. He brought her all the way to the jet, passing her over to Rhodey before going back in.

* * *

Klaus was trying to take a page out of Ben's book, drink some orange juice in the morning rather than whiskey, but _of course _there was a guy waiting in the kitchen, ready to shoot him. Right at that second, an alarm went off.

Without thinking, he grabbed a dirty frying pan out of the sink and bludgeoned the man over the head with it. The man was out cold.

Ben came running in from the living room, closely followed by Allison and Diego.

"What the _hell?" _Ben asked.

"I don't _know," _Klaus whined. "He tried to kill me!"

"Did you just knock him out with a frying pan?" Diego asked, almost amused.

"Haven't you ever seen Tangled?" he asked. Diego shrugged. "Whatever. Frying pans are amazing weapons."

"I guess I have to believe you on that one," Diego replied.

"Hey, _guys," _Allison said as Luther ran up to them. "I think we have _bigger problems."_

Five appeared out of nowhere, as he tended to do. "Hey, someone go down to the lab. Bruce and Vanya are down there. I told them to stay put."

Ben was already sprinting away. "On it!"

"Friday, what is this?" Allison asked.

"There appear to be intruders. I count twenty three others on the monitors," the AI reported.

Suddenly, in place of Friday's voice was Vanya's. "_Hey, can you guys hear me_?"

"Vanya?" Diego asked, spinning around in confusion.

"_Yeah, I'm in the speakers. Five more guys headed down your way_," she told them.

"Got it," Allison replied. "Thanks, Van."

The group got in position, ready to fight. Sure enough, a few seconds later five armed men were storming the living room. Gunshots were fired in rapid succession, but either they had stormtrooper-level aim or the Umbrella Academy weren't as rusty as they'd thought. Five jumped behind two of the guys, stabbing them in the backs. Allison rumored one of the guys to shoot his friend, and then Diego stabbed the rumored guy. One of the guys went to get up, so Klaus bashed him over the head with the frying pan he still brandished.

"_Looks like you guys gained a good bit of attention with all that ruckus… I count fifteen guys total headed up to you. From all different directions. All armed." _Vanya's voice directed them to the next wave of agents.

As the agents ran in, guns blazing, Allison screamed, "_I heard a rumor that you all dropped your weapons!"_

To everyone's surprise - especially the agents themselves - all of the agents dropped their guns. "Holy shit, Allison," Klaus breathed.

"Yeah, you ever rumored that many people before?" Diego asked, impressed.

"Nope," she said.

The agents rushed forward, ready to fight hand-to-hand. The Academy fought them easily, bringing them down one by one.

"Hey asshole," Five called to an agent trying to pick up his gun again. "I don't think so." He jumped next to him and snapped his neck in one swift motion.

"Remind me never to piss you off, Five," Klaus said as he knocked out another guy with his pan.

"_Hey guys, there's one mor-"_

Vanya didn't even have time to warn them as Diego threw a knife that curved around the doorframe, hitting a guy down the hall before they'd even seen his face.

"_Nevermind."_

"Nice team work, guys!" Klaus clapped. "Just like old times! I wouldn't call it the _good_ old days, but we can at least say it's like the old days."

"Everyone okay?" Five asked.

"_Yeah, we're all good down here- oh, sh-"_

There was the sound of more gunshots, but this time over the speaker systems. "Vanya? Ben?" Diego called out, but they didn't answer. Five disappeared in a flash of blue, and the rest of them raced down on foot.

* * *

The Avengers were flying home, along with the four hostages that Fury would have to arrange picking up somehow, and Sam stitching up Ava. With Wanda's help they'd managed to get the bullet out, and the on-the-spot medical attention seemed to be going smoothly.

"Times like this when it would be nice to have _Dr. _Banner on the jet," Steve commented.

"Why? So he can complain about how he's 'not that kind of a doctor?'" Nat smirked.

"For not being that kind of a doctor, he's pretty good at all that stuff," Clint said, skeptical.

"For not being that kind of doctor, he seemed to be doing a lot of it when I first met him," Natasha agreed.

"Maybe he's just hoping we'll hire another doctor so he doesn't have to patch us up anymore," Rhodey reasoned.

"_Boss_," Friday interrupted their conversation. "_Now that you are back in radio connectivity, I need to inform you about the infiltration of the compound._"

Tony's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "The _what?!"_

Friday continued, "_While you were gone, twenty four armed agents snuck in. I'm not sure how they initially got past the security systems, but I did not pick them up until they were inside._"

"Is everyone okay?!" Tony asked, terrified. "Where's Pepper?"

"_Ms. Potts is in your shared personal quarters, sir. She is unharmed. It seems the kids have taken out most of the agents so far_."

"...The kids?" Tony asked for clarification.

"_Yes_," Friday confirmed. "_Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, and Five have taken out most of the agents."_

"When you say _most..." _Steve asked, concerned.

"_There are still two agents left, heading towards the lab_."

"Well who's in the lab?" Tony asked.

"_Dr. Banner, Ben, and Vanya_."

"In other words, the Hulk and the unstable one are stuck in a room together that's about to get attacked," Tony summarized.

"Doesn't Ben have monsters in his chest?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah, whatever the hell that means. Friday, pull up the security footage of the lab," Tony said.

"_Right away, sir_."

* * *

Bruce watched in fascination as Vanya guided her siblings through the waves of agents. He watched through the cameras as they each used their abilities mixed with their combat skills to take down fully grown, armed, professional agents like it was nothing.

"Was that all of them?" he asked as the fighting ceased and everything went quiet. His brain was too jumbled from the adrenaline and the simple mental math was failing him; how many total agents were there, again?

"I think so…" Vanya started, not seeing any more men in the cameras.

A sudden onslaught of bullets lit up the room, this time in the lab itself rather than over the security cameras.

Everything happened in rapid succession. Vanya screamed. Glass shattered. Bruce grabbed her, sliding them both under a desk.

The Hulk pushed himself to the surface, and Bruce's skin began turning a shade of green as the transformation began. However, he was startled out of the process by another roar in the room. He looked from his shelter under the desk and watched as Ben faced the attackers head-on. Huge, long tentacles burst from his chest, immediately grabbing for the two assailants and ripping them to bloody shreds. Just as quickly as the monster had come out, as soon as it was finished with its' killing, it retreated back inside the kid.

Ben stood in the middle of the room, breathing slightly heavier and soaked in blood, but otherwise looking unharmed.

Bruce jumped, banging his head on the desk, as the Five boy appeared right next to them. Vanya moved from under the desk, and Bruce followed suit.

"You both good?" Five asked.

Vanya and Ben nodded. Bruce could only stare with wide eyes. "So, um," he coughed awkwardly. "You've got a monster, too."

Ben tilted his head, confused. "Sorry?"

Bruce shook his head. "Later. Good work, kid."

The rest of the kids came running into the lab. "We missed it?" Diego asked, seeing the remains of the agents on the floor.

"Sorry, beat you to it," Ben joked, though it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"You did it! Yay, Bennie!" Klaus cheered happily.

Bruce scratched the back of his neck, sighing as the adrenaline boost left his veins. "Well, I've got to make a _lot _of phone calls. Ordinarily, I'd feel bad leaving you kids on your own after all that, but you don't seem overly traumatised…"

"Nah, we're good," Klaus waved away his concerns. "Just another Tuesday, am I right?"

"Unfortunately," Allison mumbled. "Hey, Van? Want to come up and watch some tv?"

Vanya knew that her sister only wanted to keep her in her line of sight, which was actually pretty sweet. "I think I should help clean up the lab a bit…" She turned to Bruce. "Thanks for, you know, grabbing me."

Bruce nodded. "No problem. And don't worry about the lab - I'm sure Tony's just gonna pay someone to put it all back together."

"I still feel like I should-" she objected, looking around at the shattered glass everywhere.

"Why?" Bruce shrugged. "Not your fault. Go relax with your siblings - I'll handle things from here."

"Let's go, Vanya." Five grabbed her arm, towing her out of the trashed lab. "Dr. Banner says its fine."

Once they were a ways down the hallway, she admitted, "I broke the glass."

"And?" Five raised his brow.

"I nearly lost control again," Vanya stated.

"It was self-defense," Five dismissed.

"I'm dangerous. I could've hurt someone."

He rolled his eyes. "We've been over this - you are _not _a bomb. I've been busy trying to work out all of the equations that landed us here, but I think that it's time we got back to working on controlling your abilities. Starting tomorrow, we'll have regular lessons. How's that sound?"

_Terrifying, _she thought. But she would try. "Okay."

"Good," he said, as they met up with the rest of the group, who were rearranging the living room to make it look at least slightly less like a crime scene so they could watch something. It was a strangely familiar sight to see Diego and Luther dragging an unconscious person into the next room over.

"What if they wake up?" Vanya asked.

"We tied 'em up," Diego responded as they came back in the room. He vaulted over the back of the couch to settle between her and Allison.

"What are we watching?" Ben asked.

"Tangled," Klaus suggested, pointing a look at Diego.

Allison agreed, "Tangled it is."

* * *

"I'll have the blackest coffee you have," Five ordered. If the waitress was surprised by his request - or rather demand, but she didn't need to know that - she didn't let it show.

"Kid's got the right idea," Tony said cheerfully. "Make that two."

"I'll have a coffee, too, please," Peter smiled at the waitress.

"Um, no," Tony cancelled the order. "Stunts your growth or whatever. Your aunt would kill me."

Peter raised a brow. "She'd kill you if she knew you let me infiltrate a secret base and that I nearly got shot."

"Fine, fine," Tony conceded. "Coffee for the child."

Immediately after hearing the news of what had happened at home and that the Umbrella Academy kids had saved the day, he found the nearest shawarma joint around (three cities over) and made reservations.

It was tradition, and he couldn't argue with tradition.

That was how a whole hoard of superheroes ended up taking up half of the only shawarma joint in town. They sure made an interesting image, alright. Seated around a maze of tables pushed together to form one huge one, were: a billionaire and his wife, not one but _two _ex-frozen supersoldiers, two badass female assassins (one with a fresh bullet wound), an archer, a witch, a boy with sticky powers, a guy in a bird suit, the god of mischief (formally an attempted Earth-enslaver), and seven thirteen year olds from another universe.

Despite all of this, the waiters and chefs seemed unfazed.

**Did I just make an end-credits scene? Yes, yes I did.**


End file.
